Galveston LNG Bunker Port aims for 2027 opening

Galveston LNG Bunker Port will be located on the Texas City Ship Channel in the Texas City industrial area. [Image GLBP]

The Texas-based Galveston LNG Bunker Port (GLBP) is now fully permitted for construction, having received final authorizations from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Coast Guard. On completion, the facility will be the first dedicated LNG marine bunkering port on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The project is being developed by Pilot LNG and its partner Seapath Group, a Libra Group subsidiary.

Located on the Texas City Ship Channel in the Texas City industrial area, Galveston Bay LNG Bunker Port 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 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued its Section 408 and 404/10 authorizations 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 these approvals, GLBP now holds all necessary authorizations to advance the project to a final investment decision (FID) anticipated in mid-2025. This follows GLBP’s reporting 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, stated: “This is a crucial milestone for our project and is the culmination of intense effort and hard work by the overall teamchief development officer, Shaun Davidson. “I would like to extend my thanks to the many dedicated professionals who made this possible – both the GLBP team and our trusted advisors. 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.”

Josh Lubarsky, president of Seapath Group, added: “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.”