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Combined with an existing and upcoming facility, Port Arthur in the near future could be exporting more than 100 million cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) each year.

Vincent Yuskiewicz, senior project manager for Golden Pass LNG, spoke Wednesday at the Contractors Business Development Group Meeting, updating the large crowd on the progress of the local development.

“I’m really excited to share information about what we are doing,” Yuskiewicz said. “This job is important for the energy industry. It’s important for this community, and I will say for all of us that are watching the news today and seeing what’s happening in Ukraine and the impacts that war is having on the energy industry, this is going to be an important part of the future of energy.”

Yuskiewicz said the global population of 7.5 billion people is expected to be approximately 9.5 billion by 2050, driving the need for more advanced and cleaner technology.

The need for LNG specifically, he said, is expected to double by that time.

Golden Pass LNG, a joint project between ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy, has been in the design phase for approximately 10 years.

“We’re about 45 percent complete at this time, but that’s total — that’s engineering, that’s procurement, that’s construction,” Yuskiewicz said. “Construction itself, we’re probably about one-fifth of the way through. There are about 4,500 workers out at the site today.”

At peak construction that number is expected to surpass 7,000, with the first of three export trains in operation by 2024.

Other advancements at the site include:

• They have poured 140,000 cubic yards of concrete with 400,000 expected in total.
• About 5,000 of 78,000 tons of steel has gone up.
• They will install 380 miles of piping.
• More than 850 local vendors have been utilized with more than $650 million spent.
• Three-fourths of the workers on site are local.
  

  Travis Woods, founder of the Contractors Business Development Group, speaks Wednesday at the monthly meeting. (Monique Batson/The News)

Contractors Business Development Group Meeting

The meeting, held at the Carl A. Parker Multipurpose Center on the second Wednesday of each month, is sponsored by the Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce. Industry leaders gather to share and learn about multi-million and multi-billion dollar projects in Texas and Louisiana.

“These meetings started about 12 years ago,” said group founder Travis Woods, explaining they have migrated through several cities. “We’re just real excited; we’ve got about 1,000 members total.”

In attendance Wednesday were representatives from state Sen. Brandon Creighton’s office, U.S. Rep. Randy Weber’s office, the Port of Port Arthur and the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce.