Chilean power company Colbun considers partner in possible LNG project

By CAROLINA PICA

Chilean power generator Colbun is considering a partner for a possible liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification plant, the company's chief executive said.

Chile currently has two LNG regasification plants - one in the northern port of Mejillones and the other in the central port of Quintero - with state companies having stakes in both ventures.

The company's plans for a regasification terminal are currently at the engineering phase and a decision whether to go ahead with project could be made in the first half of 2012, Colbun chief executive Bernardo Larrain told reporters on the sidelines of the Icare business forum.

Larrain added the company hadn't yet decided whether the plant's capacity or whether it would be big enough to supply other clients besides Colbun.

LNG has become an important part of Chile's energy matrix in recent years. Chile developed LNG as an energy source during former President Michelle Bachelet's term in an effort to diversify its energy mix and increase security after Argentina started to sharply reduce natural gas exports to its neighbor in 2004.

A 2008 drought also severely curtailed hydroelectric production in Chile, helping to drive the development of LNG.

The GNL Mejillones regasification terminal, a joint venture between Chilean state copper mining company Corporacion Nacional del Cobre, or Codelco, and France's GDF Suez, supplies customers on the SING grid, which is home to the vast majority of the nation's bustling copper mining industry.

The Quintero plant is controlled by London-based BG Group and state oil and gas company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo, or Enap, and supplies energy to the nation's largest power grid, the central SIC grid.