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Much has happened since the March 2023 groundbreaking celebration for Phase 1 at Port Arthur LNG and much more is in the works.

Port Arthur LNG Vice President of Operations Chris Fortenberry laid out the vision while speaking at the Contractor Business Development Group Wednesday at the Parker Center on the Lamar State College Port Arthur campus. 

“We would like to see this site grow. We see that the energy demand across the world is continuing to grow and we’d like to play our part,” Fortenberry said, adding they are excited to be in Southeast Texas and be part of the community. He called SETX one of the best areas he’s seen in his career from the capability and competence of the workforce available here. 

It’s not often you hear of a facility acquiring enough land to move a state highway but that’s what the company did for their spot in Sabine Pass on the ship channel. As work ramped up Bechtel was brought on board as Engineering, Procurement, and Construction contractor who, in turn began their own staffing. 

What began with a swamp now sports storage tanks, and  steel in the air, and jetties being built.

Bechtel will be in charge of the site while it is under construction through the start-up of the facility.

“We actually hire our staff who are going to run and maintain the facility, and at some point we hand that staff off to Bechtel who will leverage our staff and they actually use it to start the facility up and go through commissioning and things like that,” he said.

Some data

• 60,000 cubic yards of concrete placed
• 1.6 million total cubic yards of safe soil stabilization
• 23  million linear feet of wick drains installed
• Over 20,000 feet of above ground pipe
• Over 17,000 piles driven
• Material offloading facility dock is operational

 

During construction there will be 5,000 construction workers on site. Once the facility is operational they will transition, possibly in 2027. They anticipate 200 full time employees — direct hires for the facility.

But there are numerous other related jobs that go hand-in-hand such as maintenance, line handlers for the ships, and more, he said.

Joe Tant, president/CEO of the Greater Port Arthur Chamber of Commerce and Elton Hollis III, owner of Hol-Tech Resources, LLC., noted the booming world of LNG with Venture Global’s $18 billion expansion in Lake Charles, an ammonia plant project in Victoria, green hydrogen project Plug Power and upcoming bid opportunities with the Port of Beaumont, Port of Orange and Port of Lake Charles. 

The Contractor’s Business Development Committee is composed of area contractors and businesses interested in networking opportunities, as well as current and future construction projects, according to information from their social media page.