In 2024, the country lost its energy sovereignty, that is, it had to require the importation of liquefied natural gas to meet domestic demand, The purchase of this resource comes from markets such as Trinidad and Tobago.
To date, Only a regasifying plant is available: the Port Society El Cayao, Spec, which is responsible for processing the imported gas in a liquid statethere is processed to return to the gaseous state and go to the gas pipeline system, And with this, the market can supply demand.
There are several projects to build a plant of this type, and the areas where these types of projects are viable are: BUGA (Valle del Cauca), Coveñas (Sucre), Ballena (La Guajira), Puerto Bahía (Bahía de Cartagena, Magdalena). But there are also initiatives such as the expansion of Spec in Barú, Cartagena; This project would give it the ability to manage 533 million cubic feet daily, MPCD.
The importance in the definition of this type of projects is that it is essential that the plant (boat) is located in calm waters, and at the same time, In that this hydrocarbon processing infrastructure is built to the closest gas pipelines, to make the operation efficient.
In second place, Several experts pointed out that both oil and gas will end, regardless of whether there is exploration and exploitation of these hydrocarbonstherefore, the construction of these plants represents the availability of having sufficient infrastructure to continue with these resources, but from the foreign market.
The areas where the country’s second regasifier could be located
Ecopetrol said it has no plans for the construction of such a plant, but said there is a regasification infrastructure from Buga, Valle del Cauca, which receives the gas through the virtual transport of the hydrocarbon, or what is the same, It is transported in trucks with isocontent from Buenaventura in the Pacific Ocean.
As stated by Jorge Henao Zambrano, president of the International Gas Transporter, TGI, a company with the most extensive gas pipeline system, This area would be strategic, since the market would be supplied from the Camisea del Peru field. To which he added that such a project could cost between US $ 200 and US $ 300 million.
“In the case of the Pacific regasification, according to the Energy Mining Planning Unit, UPME, in 2021 the estimated total investment exceeded US $ 700 million, distributed in: US $ 400 million for the regasifier, around US $ 160 million for the gas pipeline, and about US $ 150 million for compression infrastructure”, Said Corficolombiana.
The maritime terminal of Coveñas in the Gulf of Morrosquillo
This point was inaugurated in 2021, and according to Corficolombiana analysts such as Fabián Osorio, director of sector analysis and sustainability, Another point could be this, located in Coveñas, Sucre.
Whale, La Guajira
TGI said there is already a node in the area where the National Transportation System begins from which 300 million cubic feet are entered daily.
“The viability of whale has to do with the advantage that there is already a gas pipeline (whale-barracabermeja-bogotá)and in a few years it will have bidirectionality in that gas pipeline, which will allow gas exchange between the interior of the country and the coast according to the needs. Additionally, Ballena would better attend a future production of Sirius”Osorio argued.
Puerto Bahía, Bahía de Cartagena, Magdalena
Border Energy is making explorations so that the country has the second regasifier, in Cartagena. The company noted that the port had an investment of US $ 650 million and that there is a liquid terminal with storage capacity of 2.4 million barrels.
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