The Galveston LNG Bunker Port (GLBP) on the Texas City Ship Channel has received all necessary permits to operate a small-scale facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast for fueling ships with liquefied natural gas (LNG), company executives have told Reuters.
Galveston LNG Bunker Port (GLBP) is a joint venture by Pilot LNG and Seapath Group, a subsidiary of the Libra Group, to develop, own, and operate the first dedicated small-scale LNG facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast to serve the growing clean-energy marine fuels market.
Located on the Texas City Ship Channel in the Texas City industrial area, GLBP plans to supply LNG by fuel barge to the rapidly expanding fleet of LNG-fueled vessels in the greater Houston-Galveston region. It is optimally located to serve major ports, including Port Houston, the Port of Galveston, and the Port of Texas City, GLBP said.
The efforts of the shipping industry to reduce emissions have led to legislation demanding vessel operators to either replace the high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) with cleaner alternatives including LNG, or install the so-called scrubbers on the ships to reduce the emissions from burning HSFO.
One of the bunkering ports to supply LNG-fueled ships with fuel will be the Galveston LNG Bunker Port, having received final permits and expected to begin construction later this year.
As it submitted permit applications last month, Pilot LNG and Seapath Group expected the facility to come online in late 2026.
“After several years of challenging and complex work … we are now comfortably ahead in the marketplace to be the first dedicated LNG marine fuels supplier in the U.S. Gulf,” Josh Lubarsky, president of Seapath, said in a statement on Monday carried by Reuters.
GLBP will be America’s second LNG bunkering facility, after JAX LNG, a small-scale coastal LNG facility located at Dames Point near Jacksonville, Florida.
In February 2025, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump came to office, the Department of Energy announced an order that removes barriers for the use of LNG as marine fuel to power vessels at JAX LNG.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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