Page 12 - GLNG Week 05 2021
P. 12
GLNG AMERICAS GLNG
Petrobras calls new tender
for Bahia LNG terminal
PROJECTS & PETROBRAS, the national oil company (NOC) in LNG – Bermuda-registered Golar LNG and
COMPANIES of Brazil, has called a new tender for the right Excelerate Energy (US).
to lease an underused LNG import terminal in The eventual winner of the tender will
Bahia State. have the right negotiate a lease contract for
In a statement dated February 1, Petrobras the Bahia LNG terminal, which is capable of
explained that it was launching a new bidding importing and regasifying the equivalent of
contest for the Bahia LNG facility because it had 20mn cubic metres per day of LNG. The termi-
not received any valid proposals in its last tender. nal is “an island-type pier with all the necessary
It also said it would only accept offers from the facilities for mooring a FSRU (floating storage
companies that had already been pre-qualified and regasification unit) ship directly to the pier
to bid for this asset as of late 2019. and a supply ship on the port side of the FSRU,”
According to previous reports, Petrobras’ Petrobras said.
pre-qualification list includes nine companies. It also noted that the lease will cover assets
Three of them are domestic firms – namely associated with the terminal – namely, a 45-km
Compass Gas and Energy, a new Brazilian gas pipeline that runs from terminal facilities in the
transport and distribution company set up by port of Bahia to exit points in São Francisco do
the Cosan industrial group, and two Brazilian Conde and São Sebastião do Passé, along with
gas distributors, Bahiagas and Naturgy. Four are the power-generating facilities in the Madre de
vertically integrated international oil companies Deus Waterway Terminal (TEMADRE). How-
(IOCs) – BP (UK), Repsol (Spain), Royal Dutch ever, it will not include access to the Exceler-
Shell (UK/Netherlands) and Total (France). The ate Experience, the FSRU that Petrobras has
other two are international firms that specialise installed at the port of Bahia.
NextDecade abandons Galveston Bay LNG plan
PROJECTS & US-BASED NextDecade announced last week federal regulators for Galveston Bay LNG. The
COMPANIES that it had decided not to proceed with plans to company said it had also requested that the US
develop its Galveston Bay LNG project on the Department of Energy (DoE) cancel its 2018
Texas Gulf Coast. The decision was made fol- authorisation of LNG exports from the project.
lowing a review of the proposed plant’s location, NextDecade noted that its abandonment
with NextDecade saying it had determined that of Galveston Bay would have no impact on its
the site in Texas City was “not suitable” for the other proposed export plant, Rio Grande LNG
development of an LNG facility and associated in South Texas, on which it is targeting a final
infrastructure. investment decision (FID) later this year. Indeed,
The company explained that a portion of the the company believes Galveston Bay’s demise
Galveston Bay LNG site is under federal naviga- makes Rio Grande all the more valuable.
tion servitude, and serves as an active Dredged “While it is unfortunate that the Galveston
Material Placement Area (DMPA) for the Texas Bay LNG site is not viable for large-scale infra-
City Ship Channel Federal Project. As a result, structure development, this determination only
Galveston Bay LNG cannot be built without further enhances the value of – and the need for
the US Army Corps of Engineers requesting – NextDecade’s world-class Rio Grande LNG
that Congress authorise the release of its consti- project in the Port of Brownsville,” stated Nex-
tutional right of navigation servitude over this tDecade’s chairman and CEO, Matt Schatzman.
DMPA. NextDecade said late-stage development
This has led to “the potential for prolonged activities were ongoing at Rio Grande as it con-
uncertainty around the prospect of release tinued to work on securing the remaining com-
of federal navigation servitude” by the Army mercial agreements it needs to proceed to FID.
Corps, NextDecade said. And because of this The company suffered a high-profile setback
uncertainty, it has decided to forfeit the site with these efforts last year, when France’s Engie
and withdraw from pre-filing proceedings with terminated talks over a potential supply deal.
P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 05•February•2021
