Canacol Energy begins production and sale of LNG in Colombia

Canacol Energy has begun production and sale of liquified natural gas (LNG), the first such operation in Colombia.

Canacol said on Monday that the company was also in negotiation with Galileo Technologies to form a joint venture which would install terminals at other locations in Colombia and supply end-user solutions with the objective to replace diesel, fuel oil, compressed natural gas, propane, and other fuels with LNG.

Charle Gamba, president and CEO of Canacol, said: “Given the limited capacity of the gas pipeline infrastructure in Colombia, industrial, commercial, and residential consumers not located along existing pipeline routes currently use 145 MMscfpd of compressed natural gas and propane that is transported long distances via truck as an energy source.

“Compressed natural gas costs three times more to transport than LNG, resulting in the potential for significant cost savings for consumers who switch to LNG. With our joint venture partners Galileo providing the technology, our objective is to build other liquefaction terminals at other strategic sites in Colombia […].”

Canacol added that it installed four natural gas liquefaction modules purchased from Galileo at its main gas processing facility in Jobo during the course of 2019. The modules are capable of converting 2.4 mmscfpd of gas into 29,000 gallons of LNG.

This LNG is being sold to a third party at the plant gate for distribution via trucks to their clients in Antioquia and Santander as far as 800 kilometers from Jobo.

Colombia currently consumes 65 MMscfpd of compressed natural gas and 80 MMscfpd of propane, with a significant amount of the propane being imported from the United States.