Liquid Natural Gas Can Save Del R. Refineries

A solution to saving the now-defunct refineries in Philadelphia and its neighboring counties is now on the open market.Proposed by the Clean Water Technology Corp., which markets environmentally certified water-cleaning technology, the key to reopening the refineries is obvious.

The corporation points to the fact Pennsylvania has unlimited natural-gas resources. A spokesman indicated, “Compressing Pennsylvania natural gas forms a liquid, which can be shipped by cryogenic tankers everywhere in the world.”

What is needed, according to the corporation, is a go-ahead by Gov. Tom Corbett to approve retooling the existing refineries to compress the natural gas and store it with the capability of transferring it at existing docks to these tankers.

A Gas & Oil Institute spokesman, commenting on the proposal, said, “This could conceivably turn Philadelphia’s Port and Pennsylvania into an alternative source to Middle Eastern oil and gas sales.”

An immediate spinoff will benefit Akers Ship Yard at the Naval Base, which is eager to take orders for the double-shelled tankers.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the construction of three liquefied natural-gas terminals by British Petroleum, one of which will be built in Logan Township on the Delaware River at a cost of $600 million. This will more than triple the existing import capacity for liquefied natural gas, and help curb the rising price of this precious commodity.

However, the New Jersey facility is still being disputed by the State of Delaware regarding development rights on the river, and a decision isn’t expected from the US Supreme Court until next year.

Supporters of the dredging operation now going on in the Delaware River believe the same federal override of Delaware and New Jersey objections to the river’s deepening, will be used by the federal government and the Army Corps of Engineers to bring the same results.

Commission Chairman Joseph T. Kelliher observed, “The increase in natural-gas supplies represented by these projects, once constructed, would have a significant impact on domestic natural-gas prices in the future. Importantly, this new supply will land on not only the Gulf Coast but also in market areas on the East Coast, which will help meet demand and lower prices in market areas.”

Much of the gas pipeline infrastructure to deliver the natural gas to the compression facilities that would be erected at the old refineries is now in place.

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