U.S. company developing FSRU project in Chile

Eos Investment Group, a Houston-based energy development firm said its Chilean LNG import terminal company, GNL Talcahuano, had submitted its Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for a proposed FSRU to be located in Talcahuano in Chile.

Eos and its Chilean partner, CRI Investments, are developing the floating storage and regasification terminal to serve Chile’s gas-starved south-central region, Eos said in a statement on Thursday.

This would be Chile’s fourth LNG import terminal.

South-central Chile has an extensive natural gas pipeline and distribution network that has been idled since gas supply from Argentina failed in 2004, Eos said.

According to Eos, it is estimated that close to 2 million tons per annum (MTPA) of untapped LNG demand lies on or near the existing gas grid infrastructure.

“The Chilean Government’s Energy Ministry estimates that the four region footprint of the EOS LNG import project would ramp up to a 5 MTPA market over an eight-year period once natural gas is re-introduced,” the statement said.

Along with the admission of its EIS, GNL Talcahuano has received the approval of the Chilean Department of the Navy’s regulatory office to advance the Project’s Maritime Concession Application to the civilian authorities for final approval, Eos said.

Moffatt & Nichol has been appointed the Project Owner’s Engineer. while Shanghai-based Wison Offshore and Marine has been granted an exclusive period for the proposal to provide the FSRU.

EOS said it had signed an agreement with Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners to provide up to $150 million of equity capital in return for an equity stake in the project upon financial close.

In conjunction with the Stonepeak agreement, Eos is advancing SPA negotiations with Stonepeak investment target Magnolia LNG to supply 1 MTPA of LNG from its Lake Charles facility for delivery through the terminal to the Chilean gas market, the company said.

Additionally, EOS said it had finalized an agreement with a large international energy company to serve as a strategic investor and additional LNG supplier for the terminal.

With the strong support from Stonepeak and our strategic investor, GNL Talcahuano is fully-funded through to its commercial operations date (COD),” said Eos president Colin Williams.

Given the current supply and demand dynamics in the global LNG market we appear well-positioned to take advantage of a long term buyer’s market in LNG, sourcing from both the US Gulf Coast and Australia, while exploiting global options,” he added.

Eos and its Chilean project partners have entered into negotiations with a “number of potential creditworthy off-takers”, and have commitments in place for over 30% of the terminal capacity.

The project sponsors anticipate financial close to occur in the second quarter of 2017 with operations to commence in early 2019.