Geneva-based trader Mercuria is investing in Black Bayou Energy Hub, a developer of a natural gas storage facility located near liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals on the US Gulf Coast.
Black Bayou is developing a large-scale, underground salt dome storage facility in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes in Louisiana, near the Louisiana/Texas border.
Mercuria’s investment in Black Bayou will progress the development of the energy infrastructure, the trader said in a statement.
The firm did not provide the financial details of the deal.
Black Bayou will initially focus on FERC-regulated natural gas storage and utilize its unique location and exclusive development rights on the salt dome to pursue storage development for a wide range of energy products to meet growing customer needs, it said.
The Black Bayou salt dome is “ideally situated” between rapidly growing US Gulf Coast energy supply and demand centers.
The project’s storage facility is located seven miles east of the Louisiana/Texas border, eighteen miles north of the Gulf of Mexico coastline, and less than twenty-five miles on either side from the growing demand centers of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Port Arthur, Texas.
“The project is centrally located in the heart of the US’s rapidly growing “LNG Alley,” which will include up to ten or more LNG export terminals and over 30 BCF/d of existing and proposed LNG liquefaction capacity,” Mercuria said.
The projects include Porth Arthur LNG, Golden Pass LNG, Sabine Pass, Calcasieu Pass/CP2, Commonwealth LNG, Delfin LNG, Cameron LNG, Driftwood LNG, Magnolia LNG, and Lake Charles LNG.
