By the time Dominion Energy purchased the property in 2002, things had begun to pick up, and by 2005 the thriving facility welcomed 80 LNG tankers. For a few years, the company dumped millions of dollars into preparing for the next generation of import tankers set to move through the expanded Panama Canal. But again, the success was short-lived — this time quashed by the rise of fracking and other new drilling methods. By 2012, demand in the United States for foreign gas had been leveled, with only one ship coming to Cove Point that year.