The liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal at Louisiana’s Calcasieu Pass offers proximity to both gas supplies and deep-water access on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The approximately 1,000-acre facility will receive natural gas from North American sources, liquefy the natural gas, store, and export the LNG, processing about 620 billion cubic feet/year of natural gas and producing up to 12 million metric tons per annum of LNG for export through two LNG carrier berths.
For the project’s marine works engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) phase, Moffatt & Nichol was retained by Weeks Marine, Inc. as the designer of record to provide engineering, detailed design, construction documents, and construction support. The scope of work also included Federal Energy Regulatory Commission documentation to support the overall marine design and construction, requiring a shoreline protection study, dynamic mooring analysis, passing ship study, and report summarising the mooring and berthing analyses. Detailed design for the marine facilities included the loading platform, firewater intake platform, breasting and mooring dolphins, the access trestle and catwalks, shoreline protection, and dredging plan.
Because the project site is subject to the risk of storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico during tropical storms, such as hurricanes, under a separate contract, Moffatt & Nichol was engaged to provide detailed design and construction support for a storm surge wall. The protection strategy comprised an armoured earthen levee on the Calcasieu River to the west and a braced steel sheetpile floodwall around the other three sides. Design considered 500- and 100-year return event storm surges and waves, as well as prop wash from tugs and LNG Carriers.
