Company Planning $70 Million Underground Storage Project
KFDM News has learned a Houston-based company is building an underground storage cavern to hold up to 20 million barrels of liquid hydrocarbons at the Spindletop site in Jefferson County, and the company's investment in the project will be a minimum of $70 million and could reach several hundred million dollars.
Coastal Caverns bought the property on the Spindletop dome in 2004. It's been doing site work and has received a permit from the Texas Railroad Commission. The company wants to open the site some time in 2009.
"We'll store liquids, anything from crude to liquid hydrocarbons, including propane or butane, but not natural gas," said Robert James, general counsel for Coastal Caverns, in a telephone conversation with KFDM News.
"We're permitted for up to 24 million barrels, but we'll probably store no more than 20 million."
The company chose the site because of the geology.
"The salt dome is the key," said James. "It's a prime location and has what we need for storage."
The project will employ 50-100 construction workers. It's the company's first project in the U.S.
Coastal Caverns was founded in 2003 in Houston.
The site is next to a similar project by Atlanta Gas and Light. That company is building two underground storage caverns to hold up to 12 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
