Sempra Baja Calif LNG site ready for commercial ops

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Sempra LNG, a unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy (SRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said Thursday its Energia Costa Azul liquefied natural gas receipt terminal in Baja California, Mexico, completed performance testing and was ready for commercial operations.

Located 14 miles north of Ensenada, it is the first LNG receipt facility on the West Coast of North America.

The facility received its first two LNG cargoes over the past month, the company said in a statement.

"Energia Costa Azul is the largest capital project in our company's 10-year history thus far and part of our ongoing plan to develop critically needed natural gas infrastructure throughout North America," Sempra Energy's chairman and chief executive officer Donald Felsinger said.

The facility's first cargo of imported natural gas arrived April 18 aboard the Al Safliya carrier from Qatar. A second ship, the Bluesky, from Trinidad, arrived at the facility on May 6.

The terminal is fully contracted and capable of processing 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas, with room for expansion. Sempra LNG owns 100 percent of the facility, but is leasing half of the processing capacity to Shell International Gas Limited under a 20-year agreement.

Sempra capacity at the site will be supplied from a new liquefaction facility nearing completion at Tangguh, Indonesia. Shipments from the Indonesian facility should begin arriving in the second quarter of 2009, the company said.

Natural gas processed at Energia Costa Azul will be used in Baja California and the U.S. Southwest, meeting applicable Mexico and U.S. gas pipeline quality standards.

A second Sempra LNG receipt terminal, Cameron LNG, is under construction near Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Cameron project, capable of processing 1.5 bcf per day is slated for completion by the end of the year.

LNG is natural gas cooled to liquid form so it can be loaded on special tankers. The liquid is then delivered to receiving terminals where it is regasified and pumped into onshore pipelines. (Reporting by Eileen Moustakis; Editing by John Picinich)