ENGIE and the AES Corporation have agreed to enter into a joint venture to market and sell liquefied natural gas (LNG) to third parties in Central America, according to AES’s statement. The new agreement will pave the way for the two companies to develop small scale LNG demand and provide bunkering services.
The joint venture will utilize the Costa Norte LNG terminal currently under construction in Colón, Panama, which is owned 50/50 by AES and Inversiones Bahía. The total capacity of the Costa Norte LNG terminal is approximately 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), of which 25% will be used for the 380 MW AES Colón CCGT, currently under construction on the same site.
Under the agreement, ENGIE will supply up to 0.4 mtpa of LNG to the CCGT, beginning in 2018. The remaining terminal capacity is primarily available for the joint venture to market and sell to third parties, including up to 0.7 mtpa of LNG sourced from ENGIE mainly through the Cameron gas liquefaction project in the United States.
This joint venture expands the marketing agreement that the two companies signed late last year, whereby both groups agreed to jointly market LNG in the Caribbean, from AES’ Andres regasification facility in the Dominican Republic. The combined regasification capacity of Andres in the Dominican Republic and Costa Norte in Panamá is approximately 3 mtpa.
