SCT&E LNG: A visit to Monkey Island

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One of the mega LNG projects in the works is located on Monkey Island in Cameron Parish. This weekend the chairman and CEO of the company toured the island and allowed our camera to go along.

It was a gorgeous day in Cameron Parish, as SCT&E LNG CEO Greg Michaels, from California, embarked on a visit to Monkey Island. It's a place largely cut off from the rest of the parish since Hurricane Rita. Only Lake Charles Pilots, on the southern tip of the island, occupy it. They guide large vessels through the ship channel to their destination.

For Michaels, it's a chance to revisit the proposed location for a $10 billion LNG export facility. Michaels said they've signed a 99 year lease on 246 acres of property.

"We're down here this week to meet with a very, very large Asian buyer for our product and at the same time they are looking at investing and having ownership in the project," said Michaels.

The company plans to export gas all over the world.

"Since 2012 the United States has become the largest supplier and we have the largest reserves of national gas worldwide. Our upstream cost of natural gas is cheaper than anywhere else in the world. So we have looked at this time in history as the time for America to become the net exporter of our energy. So we plan to liquefy the natural gas which allows us to transport it globally and provide it and share that gas with countries around the world that need it,"said Michaels. "Our plan is to develop a large scale LNG facility the project is scheduled to be 12 million tons. We currently have authorization from the department of energy to nations with whom we have a free trade agreement with the United States."

He said the company also have an application to provide for nations that don't have a free trade agreement.

The first part of the tour is by sea, the last part a rough-and-tumble ATV ride on land. The island looks deserted. Signs of life are becoming overgrown with vegetation, since Rita destroyed the ferry that provided access.

SCT&ELNG Director of Business Development Eric Smith sees the potential.

"It's really designed for a large scale capital project and with the water access so close to the Gulf of Mexico, it is a perfect position for the LNG liquefaction project," he said. "We have reached out to numerous countries and also corporations around the world to schedule and host international investors and off-takers to come see first hand why this project site is the number one site in America."

Still, said Michaels, "the trip just confirms our understanding and belief of our project site and we feel like we have an outstanding site so we couldn't have had a better day than today."

His promise is to provide jobs and be a good corporate citizen. Nathan Dondis with B&J Marine said the company is already providing a few jobs, as they shuttle company executives, prospective investors and others to the island.

"The future in Cameron Parish looks very bright, Cameron Parish has been through many ups and downs, extreme hardships from the hurricanes of the last decade and this is the perfect solution to bring Cameron Parish back. Good industries that are wiling to work in partnership with the local community and provide local jobs, bring citizens back to live in Cameron Parish and make Cameron Parish a place that is thriving again," said Dondis.

If all goes according to plan SCT&E LNG will be exporting LNG around 2021.

"Monkey Island is a jewel. We're just glad we found it Monkey Island is an ideal site for a development such as ours,"said Michaels.

Michaels visited China earlier this year where he was a speaker and panelist at the first China LNG Expo held in Shanghai in March of this year.