Uruguay awarded French gas and power group GDF Suez a contract to build
a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification plant in the country's
capital, a government source said on Tuesday.
The plant in the port of Montevideo will have a processing capacity of
up to 10 million cubic meters of LNG per day. It will help diversify
energy sources in Uruguay, which is highly dependent on oil imports.
It was not clear how much it would cost to build the plant in the
stipulated 19-month time frame. Government officials initially estimated
an investment of about $500 million, but Uruguayan media later cited
figures that were nearly twice that.
Spain's Enagas, Norway's Hoegh LNG Holdings and a consortium formed by
KoreaGas Corp and Samsung Heavy Industries Co had also submitted bids to
build the plant.
Uruguay's state-owned energy company Ancap is negotiating with companies that could potentially supply LNG to the plant.
The project will require dredging in the port and connecting the plant
to the country's network of gas pipelines. The LNG regasification vessel
will be rented at first but a new vessel will be incorporated during
the project's second phase.
"(GDF Suez) will build a new regasification vessel for us, which will
operate as a plant and also as storage," the government source told
Reuters on condition of anonymity, adding the plant should be operating
by the first quarter of 2015.
Uruguay plans to export part of the LNG to neighboring Argentina, which
has had to buy more natural gas from abroad to make up for dwindling
resources at home.
Uruguay consumes just 300,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day.
Copyright Reuters 2013.
Post to be found at:
http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/GDF-Suez-Wins-Contract-to-Build-Uruguay-LNG-Plant-2013-05-14/
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