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Sarah Bairstow, MPL’s chief commercial officer, to how long this might take, but she did remark
said that the firm had changed direction in that the permit was expected to be issued
response to the rise in global demand for LNG “imminently.”
that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Meanwhile, Argus reported that MPL had
which has led Europe to seek new sources of already signed binding off-take agreements for
natural gas supplies. “We have always seen LNG 8mn tpy of LNG with several clients. One of
demand driven by a requirement for energy these is Guangzhou Development Natural Gas
security in Asia, but as the supply opportuni- Trading, a subsidiary of China’s Guangzhou
ties are soaked up by Europe in its new focus Development Group (GDG), which agreed in
on energy security ... we are seeing customers April to buy 2mn tpy over a period of 20 years.
being a lot more aggressive in terms of timing The Puerto Libertad LNG plant will use gas
and terms,” she told Argus. imported into Mexico via pipeline from fields
Bairstow also stated that MPL expected to in the US Permian basin as feedstock. As such,
begin construction work on the first phase of its Shanda pointed out, it will have a cost advan-
export terminal within the next “month or so.” tage over other LNG exporters targeting Asian
The company will take this step once it secures markets. “We have access to this great Permian
the necessary permit for LNG exports and signs gas, and we are the lowest landed cost of LNG
binding off-take agreements for the facility’s into Asia against global benchmarks,” he told
production, she said. She did not speculate as Argus. ™

CARIBBEAN
Head of CDB urges switch to renewable

energy to reduce fuel import costs

THE head of the Caribbean Development Bank boosting productivity, seeing as the region has
(CDB) declared last week that Caribbean coun- only managed to install 25 MW in new renewa-
tries ought to speed up the transition to renew- ble generating capacity over the last nine years,
able energy sources in order to avoid the high he added.
costs associated with fuel imports. He went on to say that Caribbean coun-
Nearly all of the island states in the region tries that wanted to accelerate the transition to
are completely dependent on imported fuels. As renewable energy would most likely need to
a result, they have felt the impact of the rise in look to the private sector for funding. This is
world crude oil prices that followed the invasion because many of the region’s governments have
of Ukraine, which led many Western countries incurred such heavy debts that they have a diffi-
to restrict Russian petroleum imports. cult time obtaining loans, even from multi-lat-
Gene Lyon, the president of CDB, empha- eral agencies, he explained.
sised this connection, saying: “Because of the According to Leon, Caribbean govern-
pervasiveness of energy in everything you do ... ments that struggle to acquire private funding
you are [at] the mercy of volatility in the price of will have to do a good job of convincing private
that product.” enterprises of the opportunities that the energy
Leon also expressed the CDB’s readiness to transition will bring. One initiative that the
assist Caribbean states in developing a diversi- CDB is working on to advance the introduc-
fied yet affordable energy portfolio. At present, tion of renewable energy is the installation of
he noted, petroleum-derived fuels account for climate-resilient rooftops in 75% of Caribbean
80% of the energy sources used by the 19 coun- homes by 2035, he stated. ™
tries that borrow from the CDB. These states
import around $7bn per year of refined fuels,
he said.
Leon added that electricity costs in Carib-
bean states are roughly three to four higher than
in developed nations because of the region’s
reliance on imported fuel for power produc-
tion. He recommended that the bank’s member
countries should look to install 320 MW of new
renewable generating capacity each year in an
effort to limit fuel costs. Meeting this goal will
require an annual investment of $1.2bn and CDB President Gene Lyon (Photo: CDB)

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 18 05•May•2022