MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Next July Chile begins to cut its Argentine natural gas dependency

Re-gasification facilities at Quintero, the first LNG terminal in South America

After years of import disruptions and domestic gas shortages, Chile’s energy industry is now eagerly awaiting the arrival of the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipment to the country’s new LNG terminal, located in the city of Quintero (Region V).

LNG is a technology that allows the long-distance shipment of natural gas, the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon fuel available today, in liquid form using specially constructed tanker ships and coastal “re-gasification” facilities.

The LNG tanker Methane Heather Sally will disembark this Friday from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago carrying the liquid equivalent of 140 million cubic meters of gas for the Quintero facility.

The journey around the tip of South America will last approximately 20 days, putting the terminal in operation around the beginning of July.

Chile began aggressively pursuing LNG in 2004, when a cut in gas exports from Argentina caused shortages across central Chile, forcing many industries to switch back to dirtier-burning diesel fuels to meet energy demands.

The 1.1 billion US dollars Quintero facility is the first LNG terminal in South America. It consists of a pipeline to bring the LNG from tankers into land-based holding tanks and a re-gasification facility to turn the liquefied fuel back into a gas for distribution across Chile. When fully operational, the facility will cover 40% of the demand for natural gas in Chile.

Construction of the offshore terminal, re-gasification facility, and the smallest of the facility’s three holding tanks is complete.

The remaining two tanks, each with a capacity of 160,000 cubic meters of LNG, will be completed in early 2010, when the facility should begin operating at peak capacity.

Government officials say that LNG will secure Chile’s natural gas supply and allow industries to count on the cleaner fuel. “To all the businesses . . . that have been burning gasoline and diesel fuel since 2005 and 2006 because of the lack of gas, we say unequivocally that the shortage is over,” said Minister of Environment Ana Lya Uriarte on a visit to Quintero in May.

“There are no more excuses. After August natural gas is back”. (Santiago Times)