(Energy Analytics Institute, Aaron Simonsky, 7.Mar.2019) — Chile, which last year commenced importation of Argentine natural gas after an 11 year absence, aspires to assist its neighbor export the resources to far off destinations in the form of liquefied natural gas or LNG.
“We understand that Argentina’s development intentions for the Vaca Muerta gas include exporting resources via pipelines as well as in the form of LNG to other markets outside the continent,” reported Argentina’s online media Río Negro, citing Chilean energy minister Susana Jiménez Schuster. “This undoubtedly opens up opportunities to think about the possibility of using facilities located in Chile,” she said.
Chile, the largest exporter of copper in Latin America and the Caribbean, relies mainly on LNG imports to fulfill energy demand across the country. Chile currently has two regasifications terminals in operation, Quintero and Mejillones, with production capacity of 15 MMcm/d (million cubic meters per day) and 5.5 MMcm/d, respectively, according to data on both terminal’s websites.
The minister stressed that over the short-term it was necessary to deepen conversations between Chile and Argentina about the true potential of the export initiative.
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