Opportunities for smaller LNG carriers on the intra-regional trade in South America have received a significant boost after an agreement to build a floating regasification and liquefaction vessel off Colombia.
Pacific Rubiales Energy, a Canada-based producer of natural gas, signed the deal for the new floating unit with Belgium-based shipowner Exmar to produce and ship 500,000 tonnes of LNG per year over 15 years.
The regasification and storage capacity of the project means the unit is an FLRSU, which the project leaders claim is the first of its kind in the world. It is scheduled to start operating in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The rise in global demand for gas as a cleaner fuel than coal will spur further investment in floating LNG units, both on the regasification and liquefaction side, analysts have said.