Page 5 - LatAmOil Week 37

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

After the vessel was loaded with LNG at the will consist of LNG sent to Panama via its termi-
Andrés terminal, it retained some of the vol- nal of Telfers Island. It has not said exactly where
umes on board as strategic storage and delivered it intends to source that LNG, but co-operation
another portion to Jamaica to evaluate its re-ex- with AES Dominicana will allow it to access
port capabilities. additional volumes of fuel.
The results of the tests indicated that the This connection is sure to prove handy in the
floating storage plan can facilitate re-exports, event that hurricanes or other storms disrupt
while also providing the country with extra shipping in the southern Caribbean. That is, if
storage space for strategic fuel supplies during weather disrupts or delays scheduled deliver-
the hurricane season, AES Dominicana said. ies to AES Colón, the complex may be able to
They also showed that the use of ship-to-ship secure enough LNG to meet customers’ needs
transfer systems, in addition to floating storage, on a temporary basis by appealing to its sister
could “[make] the logistics management of the company.
terminals more flexible, improving redundancy Even under normal conditions, however,
for [the company’s] customers,” it added. the AES subsidiaries still have an incentive to
The AES subsidiary explained that it saw co-operate with each other. On the one hand,
floating storage as a bridge solution, pending to the local market. On the other, AES Domi- “
AES Colón has the potential benefit from the
the completion by Energía Natural Dominicana proximity of a nearby source of LNG for delivery AES says
(ENADOM) of a second gas storage unit in the
Dominican Republic. nica aims to become a regional gas hub, and it its floating
Once this facility begins commercial oper- could use its ties to AES Colón (and AES Colón’s storage plan
ations in 2023, it said, it can serve as “strategic agreement with Tropigas) to facilitate re-exports
infrastructure to continue positioning the coun- of fuel to customers in Panama and Costa Rica. can help turn
try as a regional hub.” In short, both sides can back each other up and
make use of each other’s business networks. the Dominican
Family ties
AES Dominicana went on to say that it expected Potential partners Republic into a
to benefit from its links to a sister company – Assuming that the Dominican Republic and major regional
AES Colón, the operator of a gas complex on other Caribbean states continue to favour gas-
Telfers Island, near the Atlantic terminus of the ification and the replacement of RFO as the pri- gas hub
Panama Canal – as it established the hub. This mary source of fuel for TPPs, these networks are
facility includes an LNG regasification plant, a likely to expand over the long term.
180,000-cubic metre LNG storage depot, a ter- If so, the Dominican Republic will be able
minal that can transfer LNG to trucks for over- to make faster progress on its efforts to turn the
land delivery, a pier that can berth ships with Andrés LNG import terminal into the backbone
storage capacities of 3,000-160,000 cubic metres of a thriving gas complex capable of importing
and a 381-MW combined-cycle thermal power gas for domestic consumption, re-exporting
plant (TPP). LNG to other customers in the region and also
Earlier this year, AES Colón agreed to work storing fuel for later use.
with the Panamanian subsidiary of the Domin- Eventually, it may also be in a position to turn
ican Republic’s Tropigas to distribute LNG by to other suppliers rather than relying on existing
truck in Panama and Costa Rica. The partners connections between AES subsidiaries. It could,
intend to use tanker trucks to deliver fuel from for example, present itself as a possible partner
the gas complex to industrial and business con- for Eagle LNG Partners, which is looking to start
sumers such as manufacturing facilities, hotels, exporting LNG from its terminal in Jacksonville
food and beverage suppliers, TPPs and transport to buyers in the Caribbean basin. The US-based
companies. firm is not the only part eyeing the regional gas
AES Colón has said that these fuel shipments market.™

BP warns that peak oil demand

may be just around the corner

BP has warned that oil demand will peak within scenarios for global energy demand.
the next few years, reflecting growing belief that The first, which is a business-as-usual sce-
the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has nario, assumes that current trends in gov-
brought forward the decline of fossil fuels. ernment policies, technologies and societal
The oil and gas major published its Energy preferences continue as they have done in the
Outlook 2020 on September 14, outlining three recent past.

Week 3 17•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P5