Galveston LNG Bunker Port in US Golf Coast receives final construction permits

LNG Bunkering

Published Tue, 20th May 2025
by Admin

Construction of the first dedicated marine bunker port on U.S. Gulf Coast will begin in the coming months and LNG bunker deliveries for customers is targeted to begin in the second half of 2027.

The Texas-based Galveston LNG Bunker Port (GLBP) on Monday (19 May) has received final authorisations from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard and is fully permitted for construction.

Upon completion, the liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility will be the first dedicated marine bunker port on the U.S. Gulf Coast serving the growing clean-energy marine fuels market.

Located on the Texas City Ship Channel in the Texas City industrial area, GLBP will supply LNG by fuel barge to the rapidly expanding fleet of LNG-fueled vessels in the greater Houston-Galveston region. It is optimally located to serve major ports, including Port Houston, the Port of Galveston and the Port of Texas City. The project is a joint venture between Pilot LNG and Seapath Group, a maritime subsidiary of Libra Group.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued its Section 408 and 404/10 authorisations for the small-scale LNG project under the Clean Water Act. Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has issued its Captain of the Port Letter of Recommendation (LOR) for the project’s Waterway Suitability Assessment (WSA) pursuant to Regulation 33 CFR 127.

With today’s announcement, GLBP now holds all necessary authorizations to advance the project to a final investment decision (FID) anticipated in mid-2025. This follows GLBP’s announcement in January that it had received its Texas Railroad Commission (TRRC) Water Quality Certification and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) air permit.

Shaun Davison, Chief Development Officer of Pilot LNG, said: “This is a crucial milestone for our project and is the culmination of intense effort and hard work by the overall team.

“We are in the very advantageous position of being the only permitted LNG bunker project in the region. We look forward to beginning LNG bunker deliveries to customers in the second half of 2027.”

President of Seapath Group, Josh Lubarsky, said: “After several years of challenging and complex work bringing together the engineering, permitting, and third party supplies for gas and power to the project, we are now comfortably ahead in the marketplace to be the first dedicated LNG marine fuels supplier in the U.S. Gulf.

“So much work is required behind the scenes to get a complex project to this point, which oftentimes goes unnoticed. We have made a significant financial commitment to this project and, over the course of the last several years, have positioned GLBP to be the foremost clean fuel supply hub in the Galveston Bay/Gulf region. We could not be more excited for the start of construction in the coming months.”

Photo credit: Galveston LNG Bunker Port
Published: 20 May, 2025

Galveston LNG Bunker Port in US Golf Coast receives final construction permits

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