Plans have been announced for the construction of a large liquefied natural gas storage facility that will go up roughly 10 miles to the west of downtown Rio Rancho.
The project will belong to the Albuquerque-based New Mexico Gas Company and is designed to provide a source of secure supply for the company’s more than 540,000 customers.
NMGC will build the facility, which will include a storage tank capable of holding about 1 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas and liquefaction and vaporization equipment, on some 20 currently vacant acres out of a 160-acre site recently purchased by the company.
The portion of the site not used for the project will serve as a buffer zone.
Gas would be “transported to the facility in its regular gaseous state and then liquefied for storage,” Tim Korte, a NMGC spokesman, remarked to the Rio Rancho Observer in describing the project.
Plans for the project have now been presented to the Rio Rancho Governing Body, with hopes that if duly approved, work on the facility will begin two years from now. The plant would then be expected to be fully operational by the final quarter of 2026.
The largest natural gas utility in the state, NMGC is part of the larger Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Emera Energy company.
By Garry Boulard
