The company will be primarily responsible for management of construction and operation of the facility, and provide a significant portion of construction funding. The management of Freeport LNG Development will remain in place and be responsible for all commercial activities and customer interface for the remaining capacity in the facility.

The terminal will be designed with a storage capacity of 6.9bcf and send-out capacity of 1.5bcf per day. Natural gas will be transported through a 9.4-mile pipeline to Stratton Ridge, Texas, which is a major point of interconnection with the Texas intrastate gas pipeline system. The Freeport LNG terminal is being developed in response to the growing need for new natural gas supplies for commercial, industrial and residential consumers in Texas.

Project front-end engineering and design studies will be completed in January 2004. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2004, with commercial startup mid-2007.

"This significant step in our LNG import and regasification development effort provides a near-term opportunity to serve the growing U.S. natural gas market," said Jim McColgin, ConocoPhillips vice president of exploration and business development.