Buenaventura FSRU

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Buenaventura FSRU, also known as the Pacific LNG Terminal, is a proposed floating LNG import terminal in Colombia.

Location

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Project Details

• Owner: Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética (UPME)
• Parent comany: Unidad de Planeación Minero Energética (UPME)
• Location: Bay of Buenaventura, Colombia
• Coordinates: 3.895046, -77.068010 (approximate)
• Capacity: 4.13 bcm/y (400 mcfd)
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 2026

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

The Colombian energy planning agency UPME has been studying the possibility of building a LNG import and regasification terminal on Colombia's Pacific coast since 2017. In November 2018, the government announced a plan to launch a tender for an FSRU to be located in the Bay of Buenaventura, on the Pacific coast. The FSRU would become the second import terminal in Colombia and would commence operations at the end of 2023. The selection of the winner was expected in mid-2019.

In July 2020, the government relaunched the tender process for the FSRU and the related Buenaventura-Yumbo Gas Pipeline, which will connect the facility to Yumbo, Valle del Cauca in the south-west of the country. The terminal and the pipeline together were estimated to cost US$700 million and the rationale for the project is that Colombia is expected to see increased gas consumption in the coming years. Under the new tender timetable, a single bidder for construction and operation of both the FSRU and the pipeline was to be agreed by March 2021, with the facilities scheduled to become operational by late 2023/early 2024. Colombian pipeline operator TGI was reportedly contemplating a bid for the project as of 2020.

In October 2021, Colombia's energy planning agency UPME announced that it had canceled its tender for the terminal and pipeline project due to lack of interest. Analysts have cited several potential reasons for the unsuccessful tender, including the project's complexity and high financial risk factor, seismic threats, changing economic conditions, and opposition from domestic gas producers and environmentalists. However, UPME did not rule out reviving the tender process at a future date.

In late 2022 the process was re-launched under new guidelines, including doubled terminal storage capacity (from 100,000 m³ to 200,000 m³), lower barriers to application, and clearer process details. As of September 2022, the Colombian government was set to receive economic offers in March 2023 and announce the final recipient of the contract by May 2023. In February 2023, while retaining the previously stated bidding deadline of March 2023, the government announced additional details of the tender, including a reduction in required storage capacity from 200,000 m³ to 170,000 m³.

In late February 2023 a new bidding deadline of June 8, 2023 was established, and in May the deadline was pushed back to July 6, 2023. In June 2023, faced with limited interest from investors, the Colombian government announced that it had extended the deadline for submission of bids yet again, this time until August 10, 2023.

The proposed Pacific LNG Terminal is distinct from the Aguadulce LNG Terminal, a separate LNG project being studied for development at the northern end of the Bay of Buenaventura.

As of March 2024, the LNG terminal and pipeline project remained in limbo following yet another unsuccessful attempt by the government to attract bidders at the end of 2023. Investors' reluctance to bid on the project appeared to hinge on lack of clarity in government investment guidelines, coupled with concern about social and environmental challenges facing the pipeline.

In June 2024, Colombia's energy planning agency UPME announced that it was making regulatory changes designed to facilitate another government tender for the project in 2025.

Opposition

Opponents of the Buenaventura terminal project have objected to its completion on various grounds, including environmental concerns about bringing Qmax ships into the protected waters of Buenaventura Bay, logistical concerns about the terminal's proximity to military installations on Isla Naval, and economic concerns related to the high cost of imported natural gas.