Colombia to greet inaugural LNG cargo next month

OREANDA-NEWS. October 26, 2016. A new regasification terminal on Colombia's Caribbean coast will receive a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) followed by a 130,000-160,000m3 commissioning cargo in the first half of November.

Japan's Mitsui is shipping the cargo to the 400mn ft3/d (4bn m3/yr) terminal from the US Gulf coast market, operator Sociedad Portuaria El Cayao (Spec) told Argus.

Norwegian shipper Hoegh will supply the 170,000 m3 Hoegh Grace FSRU under a minimum 10-year contract.

Construction on the Cartagena-based port is 5pc short of completion. Commercial operations are scheduled to kick off on 1 December.

Spanish construction firm Sacyr has a sub-contract with Spec to build the terminal.

Colombian gas distributor Promigas controls Spec with 51pc and Baru LNG, a private equity firm, holds 49pc.

Grupo Termico, a consortium of thermal generators on Colombia's Caribbean coast, plan to import LNG through the new terminal when domestic gas supply is limited.

Chevron's mature Guajira gas fields on the Caribbean coast are in decline and transport bottlenecks are keeping gas from interior basins from reaching the Caribbean market and covering the shortfall.

The gas market is especially tight when hydroelectricity is limited by drought, forcing the gas generators to use diesel.

State-controlled 910MW Termobarranquilla (Tebsa), 314MW Chilean-owned Termocandelaria and Colombian Celsia's 610MW Termoflores make up Grupo Termico.

Thermal generators last week consumed around 24pc of Colombia's gas, according to gas industry group Concentra.

Colombia produced 968mn ft3/d of gas in September, down 7.8pc from the same month last year.