Mercuria invests in US-based energy storage project

Energy and commodities company Mercuria announced on 7 June an investment in Black Bayou Energy Hub LLC, an underground energy storage company based in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Black Bayou is developing an underground energy storage facility in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes, Louisiana, near the Louisiana/Texas border on the US Gulf Coast. The initial focus will be on FERC-regulated natural gas storage, utilising the location and exclusive development rights on the salt dome to pursue storage development for a range of energy products.

The storage facility is situated seven miles east of the Louisiana/Texas border, eighteen miles north of the Gulf of Mexico coastline, and less than twenty-five miles from the growing demand centres of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Port Arthur, Texas.

“The project is located in the heart of the US’s rapidly growing ‘LNG Alley,’ which will include up to ten or more LNG export terminals and over 30 billion cubic feet per day (bn ft³/d) of existing and proposed LNG liquefaction capacity,” the company stated.

Mercuria highlighted that Black Bayou’s exclusive development rights, along with its proximity to existing and expanding natural gas, hydrogen, crude oil, NGL, and olefin pipelines and infrastructure, will enable the project to provide storage and wheeling services to a wide range of energy consumers and suppliers.

The company did not disclose the value of the deal.