FERC Filing Shows Cove Point LNG Terminal Short On Cargoes

Dominion Resources (D) on Monday filed a minor procedural request that indicates the firm doesn't know when it will have enough liquefied natural gas to test its expanded capacity at its Cove Point, Md., terminal.

Dominion filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to delay for a year a required noise-level test of its facility at capacity.

The project, which technically came online late last year, expanded capacity at the plant to 14.6 billion cubic feet from 7.8 billion and doubled processing abilities to 1.8 billion cubic feet a day.

With depressed natural gas prices, LNG imports have plummeted in recent years. In 2005, Cove Point received 73 cargos, but last year the terminal saw only nine.

A Dominion official confirmed the FERC request revealed that the company had no idea when it would receive enough shipments to test the doubled capacity.

StatoilHydro ASA (STO), BP PLC (BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA, RDSB) each own capacity at the terminal.

-By Ian Talley, of Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-9285; [e-mail]

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