Roof raised at Cameron LNG

On March 6, the roof of Cameron LNG's Tank 203 – the tank closest to Highway 27 – was lifted and secured. "This is a significant milestone for the project," says Joe Risse, Cameron LNG program manager.

The process involved lifting the pre-assembled, 550-ton, 254-foot-diameter roof structure 118 feet on a cushion of air at the rate of about 6 inches per minute. Fans outside the tank helped get the job done by blowing air through ducting and a hole in the side of the tank. This raised the air pressure in the tank which made the roof go up. Once the roof reached the top of the structure, it was welded into place.

When finished, each of the tanks will stand 170 feet tall and measure 254 feet in diameter, and Cameron LNG will be capable of delivering 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

With an average of 500 workers on site, the Cameron LNG construction team has worked more than 1 million hours without a lost-time incident. Because safety is a top priority at Cameron LNG, construction workers will be honored for their safety record at a team celebration scheduled for the end of March.

The three LNG tanks continue to be the most visible construction activity, but watch for more progress on the southwest end of the site, where work on the administration building and the Entergy switchyard has begun.

The terminal construction is now close to 40 percent complete and remains on target to be completed in late 2008.

"We expect to raise the roofs of the other two tanks well before the start of summer."

In addition, Alan Zachary, Cameron LNG's construction site manager, reports that recent successful project inspections have been conducted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.