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Petrobras pre-qualifies international, local companies to bid for Bahia LNG lease
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
BRAZIL’S national oil company (NOC) Petro- bras has pre-quali ed 10 companies to partici- pate in a bidding contest for the right to lease the underutilised Bahia LNG terminal, along with an associated pipeline.
As of press time, Petrobras had not yet named all of the companies on its pre-quali cation ros- ter. But Argus Media reported earlier this week that the list of pre-quali ed bidders included four vertically integrated international oil com- panies – BP (UK), Repsol (Spain), Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands) and Total (France) – as well as two international rms that specialise in LNG – Excelerate Energy (US) and Golar Power Latam, a subsidiary of Bermuda-registered Golar LNG. It also said that the list included Compass Gas and Energy, a new Brazilian gas transport and distribution company set up by the Cosan industrial group, and two Brazilian gas distributors, Bahiagas and Naturgy.
These companies are now authorised to submit bids in a tender for the right to lease the Bahia LNG terminal, which is capable of import- ing and regasifying the equivalent of 20mn cubic metres (mcm) per day of LNG. e lease will also cover a 45-km pipeline that runs from terminal facilities in the port of Bahia to exit points in São Francisco do Conde and São Sebastião do Passé. It will not o er access to the Excelerate Experi- ence, a oating storage and regasi cation unit (FSRU) that Petrobras has installed at the port.
The terminal has been operating below capacity for some time. According to data from Brazil’s Mines and Energy Ministry, it regasi ed the equivalent of 4.34 mcm per day on average in the rst four months of 2020.
Petrobras is auctioning o a lease to the facil- ity within the framework of its plan to divest its gas transport and distribution assets and to allow third parties to access gas infrastructure. It drew up the outlines of this plan last year, under an agreement with the Brazilian government’s anti- trust agency, known as Cade.
e NOC does not have an impressive track record with respect to LNG projects. It has built three LNG regasi cation terminals along the coast, but two of these facilities – Bahia and Pecem – are operating below design capacity. Meanwhile, the third terminal – the Guanabara terminal, which is in Rio de Janeiro – has been out of service since 2018.
Over the last year, though, Petrobras has made room for private investors. UK-based Centrica and its local partner Centrais Elétricas de Sergipe (CELSE) commissioned a new LNG import terminal in Sergipe in March 2020 and are now using Golar LNG’s Golar Nanook FSRU to import gas.
Meanwhile, Gas Natural Açu (GNA) recently took delivery of another FSRU, the BW Magna, o the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. It hopes to bring this facility on stream in early 2021.™
These companies are now authorised to submit bids in a tender for the right to lease the Bahia LNG terminal.
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