| cartagena • colombia • LNG • marine terminal |
Colombia is about to import its first LNG cargo, with the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Höegh Grace now in position at the port of Cartagena.
The 2015-built, 170,032m³ Höegh Grace is owned by Höegh LNG and chartered to Colombia’s Sociedad Portuaria El Cayao (SPEC) for 20 years. It has started its commissioning phase and is ready to receive a 130,000m³-160,000m³ commissioning cargo next week. Mitsui & Co will ship the cargo to Cartagena from Sabine Pass LNG in the US.
Höegh Grace will supply gas to a consortium of thermal generators on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The vessel will enable Colombia to import up to 3.75 million tonnes a year of LNG. Reports suggest Cartagena will start commercial LNG imports on 1 December.
Four new FSRU-based import projects have been contracted or were due to start this year. Next to join the FSRU-importers’ club is likely to be Ghana, which is due to import LNG using the 170,000m³, Golar LNG-owned FSRU Golar Tundra .