Sempra’s LNG Dream
FRICTION: Mohamed Fathy, a contract worker from Egypt, grinds the steel floor liner in one of the two giant storage tanks near Ensenada. Construction involves a multinational group of companies. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
FOR GASSING UP: The roof of the re-gasification building takes shape. Liquefied gas, colder than minus-200 degrees, will be warmed back into a gaseous state by piped-in ocean water. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
NEIGHBOR: Fish farms operate a few miles from the Sempra Energy plant. Ships bringing natural gas will dock at a yet-to-be-built breakwater to the left of the storage tanks. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
CAVERNOUS: Workers pour concrete flooring. The tanks are 262 feet across and will hold nearly 42 million gallons of liquefied natural gas. Up to half of the current project’s natural gas output would go to Baja California and the rest to the U.S. Southwest. A proposed expansion would serve even more of the Southwest. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
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TOP JOB: A crew perched 180 feet atop one tank prepares a web of steel for a concrete pour. It’s the first such West Coast plant. (Don Bartletti / LAT)
