Charlie Crist

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida's Governor Charlie Crist
announced, on September 11, his approval of the planned Port Dolphin Energy,
LLC, deepwater port project which will provide a new source of natural gas to
the state.

As part of the federal permitting process, Gov. Crist is required to express
support, opposition, or take no position at all for the proposed Liquid
Natural Gas receiving terminal.  His favorable decision is an important
milestone for Port Dolphin, which is a subsidiary of  Hoegh LNG, a worldwide
leader in development of floating solutions in the LNG value chain.

Port Dolphin plans to construct a deepwater port 28 miles off the coast of
Manatee County. Liquid natural gas (LNG) tankers arriving at the port would
link up with a natural gas pipeline running from the offshore terminal to Port
Manatee and then inland for four miles before interconnecting with the state's
natural gas pipeline grid. The LNG would be returned to a gaseous state
onboard the vessels and fed into the pipeline to serve customers throughout
west central Florida.

"We are pleased with Gov. Crist's decision to approve this very important
project.  When completed in 2013, Port Dolphin will be able to provide Florida
utilities with another source of clean energy," said Sveinung J. Stohle,
president and chief executive officer of Hoegh LNG.

The venture is expected to generate more than $150 million in direct economic
impact to Manatee County and the Port of Manatee during the next 20 years.

The Governor's positive support is a major step in the permitting process that
is expected to be completed by 2010 as federal, state and local regulatory
agencies review and act on the permit application. Construction of the port
project is scheduled to begin in 2011.

"This approval marks more than 3 years of development work on the project, and
confirms Hoegh LNG's strategy to design and develop a new competitive LNG
market access into the Florida natural gas market," added Stohle. "This is one
of several projects of similar kind we have in our portfolio, and we are very
pleased with the support the U.S. federal and Florida regulatory authorities
have afforded us in this development. Port Dolphin will offer our customers
new LNG import capacity and thus the possibility for marketers to diversify
their sources and increase the security of supply to their consumers in the
United States, while LNG owners are offered an alternative and flexible
solution for access to the attractive Florida natural gas market." 

The project could serve more than a million homes with energy when it is in
full operation.

Considering the Environment 

The project will adhere to several conditions relating to noise, construction
management and environmental impact mitigation.  As part of the federal
permitting process the USCG published an Environmental Impact Statement which
confirms that Port Dolphin will not have any long term major impact upon the
sensitive and important environment that it will operate in.

Hoegh LNG 

Hoegh LNG is a fully integrated ship-owning company offering long-term
floating production, transportation, re-gasification and terminal solutions
for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The company operates a fleet of four LNG
carriers and has two innovative Shuttle and Re-gasification Vessels (SRV) on
order.  In addition to transporting the LNG, these vessels will act as
floating terminals while delivering the natural gas to the market. Hoegh LNG's
strategy is to add value to its customers by broadening its service scope to
include solutions for floating production, re-gasification terminals and
delivery of natural gas. The company is developing  two deepwater terminals
based on SRV technology in Florida and UK. In addition to the head office
centrally located in Oslo, Hoegh LNG has established presence in London (UK)
and Tampa (Florida). 

SOURCE  Port Dolphin Energy, LLC

Sveinung Stohle, President and CEO, Hoegh LNG, +47 4003 9969; or Harry
Costello of Hill & Knowlton, Inc., +1-813-221-0030