According to EIA, in 2018 Puerto Rico’s liquefied natural gas imports were pretty close to 2016 annual levels, according to the recently released LNG Annual Report published by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy.
Specifically, imports into Puerto Rico were severely affected in 2017 after Hurricane Maria made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on September 20, 2017.
Puerto Rico imported 60.3 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of LNG in 2018, a level similar to the total LNG imports of 61.3 Bcf in 2016. Puerto Rico heavily relies on fuel imports as almost half of its generation was fueled by petroleum products and one-third of its generation was fueled by natural gas in 2017.
Puerto Rico’s overall LNG imports are used for electricity generation.
From 2013 to 2016, Puerto Rico received an average of two LNG cargoes monthly, with each cargo providing about 2.5 Bcf of natural gas, or 159 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d).
The Peñuelas LNG terminal in Ponce, on the southwestern coast, is the territory’s sole LNG terminal and began operating in 2005. Peñuelas typically operated at almost 90% of its regasification capacity of 186 MMcf/d before the expansion.
After the Hurricane Maria in September 2017, Puerto Rico’s LNG imports decreased since there wasn’t much demand during widespread electricity outages.
In the last three months of the year, Puerto Rico accommodated one LNG cargo per month, averaging 78 MMcf/d and bringing the 2017 total average to 46.4 Bcf, or 24% lower than the previous year’s average.
In the meantime, Puerto Rico resumed its two-cargoes-per-month level of LNG imports four months after the hurricane, although restoration efforts on electricity infrastructure took much longer. By April 2018, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) had restored electric power to 95% of its customers.
Now, after recovering from the hurricane, Puerto Rico is looking to further expand its natural gas consumption to displace fuel oil for electricity generation.
Yet, the area faces limitations in receiving cargoes from the Lower 48 states due to the Jones Act restrictions.
Puerto Rico, in December 2018, asked for a ten-year waiver to the Jones act, which requires goods or passengers moved in U.S. coastal waters between U.S. ports to be carried on vessels that are U.S. constructed, owned, crewed, and flagged.
