Quintero LNG Terminal

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Quintero LNG Terminal is an LNG terminal in Valparaíso, Chile.

Location

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Project details

• Owner: Fluxys (40%); EIG (40%); ENAP (20%)
• Praent company: Fluxys (40%); EIG (40%); ENAP (20%)
• Location: Bay of Quintero, Valparaíso, Chile
• Coordinates: -32.780108, -71.488757 (exact)
• Type: Import
• Capacity: 4.0 mtpa (15 million m³/day)
• Status: Operating
• Start year: 2009

Expansion

• Owner: Fluxys (40%); EIG (40%); ENAP (20%)
• Praent company: Fluxys (40%); EIG (40%); ENAP (20%)
• Location: Bay of Quintero, Valparaíso, Chile
• Coordinates: -32.780108, -71.488757 (exact)
• Type: Import
• Capacity: 5 million m³/day
• Status: Cancelled
• Start year: 2021

Background

Quintero LNG Terminal is an LNG terminal in Valparaíso, Chile.

The terminal is at Loncura Beach, on Quintero Bay in Chile's Valparaíso region. It supplies LNG to Endesa Chile, the largest utility company in Chile, along with industrial clients and 81,000 residential and commercial users. Quintero LNG terminal was the first land-based LNG terminal in the Southern Hemisphere. Following a dramatic decline in natural gas imports via pipeline from Argentina in the mid-2000s, Chile sought LNG as a means of developing its energy diversity and security while reducing its dependence on Argentina. In 2006, ENAP partnered with BG to develop the terminal. BG would eventually sell their share.

The terminal, which was estimated to cost up to $1.2 billion, began construction in 2006 and was approved by CONAMA (the Chilean environmental authority) in November 2005 after an environmental assessment. The Quintero LNG reception, storage and regasification terminal has been in operation since 2009 and reached full capacity of 0.54 bcfd by 2015. Since 2015, the terminal has received 40 to 50 cargo ships per year from countries around the world, including Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, Qatar, Equatorial Guinea, the United States, and Mexico.

Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I) was responsible for both the construction and engineering of the Quintero LNG terminal. The terminal consists of two 160,000 cubic-meter full-containment tanks, 353 million standard cubic feet per day send-out capacity, and complete ship-loading facilities.

In 2020 reloading services became available at the Quintero LNG terminal with a reloading capacity rate which depends on operational conditions of the terminal. In December 2020 an additional 1,400 - 1,600 mm HDPE sea water discharge pipeline with a capacity of 20,000 m3/h was installed in parallel to the original line to improve availability and reliability of the system. In 2022 and 2023, two LNG truck fueling service stations and a fifth truck loading bay were added to the terminal.

In early 2022, Chile's government launched a US$5.7 million project to develop a 10 MW green hydrogen plant at the Quintero terminal. However, as of mid-2022 questions remained as to whether there would be sufficient demand to support the project.

Expansion Project

The proposed Quintero LNG expansion project called for the installation of a new train of vaporization to complement the two already in operation. After the expansion, the complex's LNG regasification capacity was to increase by nearly 5 million m³/day. The expansion was cancelled in 2017.

Ownership of the expansion is presumed to be the same as the original terminal.

Ownership

The Quintero terminal project was originally a joint venture of Enap (20%), Endesa Chile (20%), Metro Gas (20%) and Terminal de Valaparaíso (40%). By 2022 the ownership configuration had evolved to include Enagas Chile (45.4%), Omers Infrastructure (34.6%) and Enap (20%). In July 2022, Washington-based energy investor EIG and Belgium-based terminal operator Fluxys acquired the 80% share previously controlled by Enagas Chile and Omers Infrastructure.