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Frontera announced on Monday that its unit Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahia has entered into the agreement with Ecopetrol.
Frontera owns a 99.97 percent equity interest in Puerto Bahia, a multi-purpose maritime and logistics terminal in Cartagena, adjacent to the Bocachica access channel in Cartagena Bay.
According to Frontera, the agreement with Ecopetrol is to be developed in two phases, with initial regasification of 126 MMcfd starting in 2027, increasing to 300 MMcfd after the first two years.
In order to fulfill the contract and satisfy additional demand needs, Puerto Bahia entered into a contract with a US-based company, which is “one of the world’s largest FSRU providers and operators, for the lease of a FSRU and the provision of related operations and maintenance (O&M) services, it said.
Frontera did not reveal the name of the US-based company.
Based on the description, US FSRU player Excelerate Energy, which has 12 FSRUs in its fleet, could be the FSRU owner.
Excelerate declined to comment on the Frontera announcement.
Fronter said the charter agreement provides Puerto Bahaa with access to an FSRU with LNG regasification capacity of approximately 500 MMcfd beginning in 2027 for an initial term of seven years, extendable for an additional five to eight years.
Moreover, the take-or-pay agreement with Ecopetrol represents a committed offtake volume intended to underwrite the FSRU lease contract, Frontera said.
“The project has meaningful upside through potential incremental third-party demand, supported by Colombia’s growing natural gas supply deficit, weather-related supply pressures associated with El Nino conditions, and the additional regasification capacity expected to be provided by the contracted FSRU,” the company said.
The LNG import project is expected to start commercial operations at the beginning of 2027.
Ecopetrol’s LNG import plans
In October last year, Ecopetrol launched a bidding process for the planned FSRU-based LNG import project at its Covenas maritime terminal.
This followed an announcement issued by Ecopetrol saying that its pipeline unit Cenit received approval from the national environmental licensing authority to adapt existing offshore crude infrastructure for LNG use at the Covenas maritime terminal in Sucre department.
Documents posted on Ecopetrol’s website showed that the expected regasification capacity of the FSRU would be 400 million cubic feet per day, while the projected capacity of use will be 110 MMcf/d.
In March last year, Ecopetrol also signed a deal with compatriot PIO SAS for regasification infrastructure on the Colombian Pacific coast.
Ecopeetrol said at the time that this new regasification alternative on the Colombian Pacific coast will provide new sources of supply to meet the demand for gas in Colombia, prior to the launch of offshore projects.
The infrastructure will have a regasification capacity of 60 million cubic feet per day.
Ecopetrol expects the infrastructure to start operations in August of 2026, offering receipt and storage services in Buenaventura and regasification in Buga, Valle del Cauca.
Belgian shipowner Exmar secured a contract from Regasificadora Del Pacífico (RDP) to deploy a floating storage unit on the west coast of Colombia.
