PASCAGOULA — In front of tanks already filled with liquefied natural gas, executives will cut the ribbon at the Gulf LNG Energy terminal at the Port of Pascagoula today to mark the completion of the $1.1 billion project.

Gov. Haley Barbour will join John McCutchen, Gulf LNG Energy chief operations officer, at noon for the ceremony at the terminal at Bayou Casotte on Industrial Road. Sen. Roger Wicker and county and city officials also will be on hand.

Six ships have already transported their loads to the terminal’s two low-pressure storage tanks, which are capable of holding 6.6 billion cubic feet of liquefied gas, a clean-burning fossil fuel that is produced and exported by countries whose natural gas reserves exceed their demand.

The terminal is capable of sending out 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of the regasified product, by way of various pipelines crisscrossing the Southern states, he said.

The gas is lighter than air, and if released would evaporate and dissipate into the atmosphere, he said.

It is liquefied to save money on transportation, he said. Cooled to minus 260 degrees, the liquid natural gas is reduced in volume by 600 to 1.

“It would take 600 ships to haul that same quantity in gas form compared to what it is in liquid form,” he said.

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