Southern LNG awarded CB&I a lump-sum turnkey contract to expand its Elba Island liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal near Savannah, Georgia, USA. CB&I performed the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning.

CB&I's work scope included a new 160,000 cubic meter LNG storage tank, a 540 million standard cubic feet per day (SCFD) send-out system, two LNG ship unloading stations, boiloff compression and condensing system, and related civil, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation works.

The double wall steel storage tank has a 258 feet outer diameter and stands 123 feet tall. The tank consists of a 9% nickel inner tank and a carbon steel outer tank. The shell annular space and the suspended aluminum support deck are insulated with perlite.

This expansion project increased the facility's storage volume by approximately 80 percent to 7.3 billion cubic feet and the design send-out rate to approximately 800 million SCFD. It took 500,000 field work-hours to complete the expansion project, all without a lost-time incident. CB&I previously built the original 3 LNG tanks for the import terminal.