Page 9 - GLNG Week 13 2022

GLNG AMERICAS GLNG

EIG, Fluxys eye 80% stake in GNL Quintero

INVESTMENT THE US’ EIG Energy Partners and Belgium’s
Fluxys announced on March 28 that they were
teaming up to acquire an 80% stake in GNL
Quintero, a Chilean LNG import terminal.
In a joint statement, the two companies said
they had arranged to buy the stake from Ena-
gas Chile, a subsidiary of Spain’s Enagas, and
affiliates of Canada-based OMERS Infrastruc-
ture. They did not say exactly how much equity
they expected to acquire from Enagas Chile or
OMERS Infrastructure, which own 45.4% and
34.6% stakes in GNL Quintero respectively. Nor objectives. “We are thrilled by the opportunity
did they reveal the financial terms of the deal. to invest in Quintero, a company that aligns
However, they did note that the transaction perfectly with our focus on strategic, high-qual-
was likely to close in the second half of this year. ity infrastructure that is critical to the region
it serves and yields attractive, contracted cash
Chilean foothold flows,” he commented. “We are pleased to be
They also said both companies hoped to expand partnering again with Fluxys, a world-class oper-
their operations in Chile as a result of the deal. ational partner, to help Quintero support Chile’s
EIG, the statement reported, already has a energy needs and transition goals with reliable
presence in the South American country. It is energy. Quintero’s strong presence in natural gas
the owner of Cerro Dominador, a solar com- infrastructure serves as an attractive launching
plex that includes a 100-MW photovoltaic (PV) point to expand its presence in related and adja-
plant that came online in 2017 and a 110-MW cent sectors, including storage, truck loading and
concentrated solar power (CSP) plant that was regasification, as well as to develop production
connected to Chile’s transmission grid in 2021. capacity for green hydrogen, where Quintero has
Additionally, it is a partner in AME SpA, a Chil- significant potential to be a domestic leader in
ean independent power producer (IPP) and the nascent industry.”
project developer that is involved in both con- Meanwhile, Pascal De Buck, Fluxys’ manag-
ventional electricity generation and hydrogen ing director and CEO, said that investment in
production. AME owns both Generadora Met- GNL Quintero would build on his company’s
ropolitana, the country’s fifth-largest electricity experience in the LNG sector and support its
producer, and HIF Global, which is involved in push to play a role in the handling of new forms
both hydrogen and e-fuels projects. of fuel and energy. “With three LNG terminals in
Meanwhile, Fluxys sees GNL Quintero as a Europe, our ambition to invest outside Europe
“forward-looking investment creating a foot- and to become the transporter of new energy
hold in another country in Latin America where carriers, Quintero is a perfect fit with our strat-
the energy transition stands high on the govern- egy for growth in view of the low-carbon future,”
ment agenda,” the two companies said in their he stated. “We want to deploy and expand our
The LNG terminal joint statement. Chile aims to use its ample solar industrial expertise worldwide and are excited
to partner with EIG as [a] leading global energy
and wind potential to become the world’s cheap-
is already est producer of green hydrogen, the statement infrastructure investor already intensively
playing a role in said, and the Belgian Hydrogen Import Coali- involved in energy transition projects in Chile.
tion, together with Fluxys, has determined that Our partnership in [GNL] Quintero brings
green hydrogen it is both feasible and economical to establish a Fluxys closer to hydrogen developments in
supply chain for green fuels between Chile and Chile and supports the import of hydrogen in
projects. Europe. Belgium. We are looking forward to collabo-
rating and developing new opportunities with
Path to green hydrogen Quintero’s management and workforce.”
The LNG terminal is already playing a role in GNL Quintero is Chile’s largest LNG regas-
green hydrogen projects. ification terminal, accounting for 75% of the
Last year, Enagas Chile and Acciona Energía, country’s LNG import capacity. It is capable
a subsidiary of Spain’s Acciona, announced of regasifying the equivalent of 15mn cubic
plans for the joint construction of a hydrolysis metres per day of LNG and has storage facili-
facility at the LNG terminal at a cost of $30mn. ties capable of holding 334,000 cubic metres of
They said the hydrolysis plant would use elec- LNG, as well as truck-loading facilities capa-
tricity generated from renewable sources to gen- ble of transferring 2,500 cubic metres per day
erate green hydrogen at the initial rate of about for road transport. (EIG and Fluxys noted that
500 tonnes per year (tpy) and that the power the terminal had handled fully 67% of Chile’s
unit would have a generating capacity of 10 MW. total gas imports, including both pipeline and
R. Blair Thomas, the chairman and CEO of LNG imports, in 2021 but did not provide a
EIG, said the deal was in line with his company’s specific figure.)™

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