(Argus, 27.Jul.2020) — US firm Sycar plans to build Ecuador’s first LNG import terminal, with construction expected to start in 2021.
Sycar, in partnership with an unnamed LNG trading firm, intends to install a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to provide regasified LNG to the 130MW Thermo Gas Machala gas-fired power plant in El Oro province. The terminal will also have an LNG truck-filling station.
The project has received approval from Ecuador’s hydrocarbon ministry, with Sycar expecting to complete environmental licensing by the fourth quarter of this year.
RELATED STORY: Ecuador LNG Terminal
Ecuador’s energy ministry has been seeking to diversify the country’s power supply sources in recent years, including LNG imports and possibly pipeline gas deliveries from Peru. Declining reserves at Ecuador’s only gas field, the 28mn ft³/d (288mn m³/yr) Amistad, have left the country on course to face a domestic supply shortage in the next “few years”, deputy hydrocarbons minister Juan Carlos Bermeo said last year. Amistad’s production is expected to fall to 8mn ft³/d within the next four years.
The country depends mostly on oil-fired plants for power supply, and is considering converting old oil-fired plants into gas-fired facilities not only to meet power demand but also to reduce costs and emissions.
Ecuador also intends to boost hydroelectric generation by building five new plants, albeit smaller than its three existing ones. This is set to raise total hydroelectric capacity to 2.79GW from 2.05GW.
__________
By Ellie Holbrook
