Texas firms join race for LNG project

Launching an offshore land rush, two Texas energy companies formally applied to the federal government yesterday for permission to build a linked pipeline and liquefied natural gas unloading station about 13 miles off the coast of Gloucester

The moves by business partners Duke Energy Corp. and Excelerate Energy LLC set up a head-to-head race with Neptune LNG LLC, which filed a $900 million plan in February with the US Coast Guard for its own offshore gas facility in the same general area. Neptune is owned by the same global energy conglomerate that owns the Distrigas liquefied natural gas terminal in Everett, Suez SA of Paris.