Golar in Enviro Phase for Brazilian FSRU
Golar LNG affiliate Golar Power Latam said August 27 it has commenced the environmental licensing process related to installation of a 160,000 m3 floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and a subsea gas pipeline in Brazil. The latter will connect with an existing pipeline that currently transports natural gas from Bolivia to Brazil.
Golar expects to receive an environmental license for the Terminal Gas Sul (TGS) project before the end of this year and authorisation from Brazil’s regulatory National Petroleum Agency (ANP) in 2019. Construction is expected to start in 3Q 2019, while commissioning is expected to start in 1Q 2021, with commercial operations in 2Q 2021.
Santa Catarina state institute has scheduled a public hearing to discuss the project on September 3. However, the hearing risks cancellation after a state public defender filed a petition to suspend the licensing process, claiming Brazil’s federal environmental watchdog, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, or Ibama, should be responsible for issuing the permit.
Golar plans construction of TGS in Babitonga Bay, located in the municipality of Sao Francisco do Sul, north of Santa Catarina. The FSRU would be moored some 300 m off the coast in 13 m of water, and would receive two LNG discharges per month, according to Golar’s environmental report.
The project will also include construction of a 2 km subsea pipeline, estimated by Golar to take six months to complete. The pipeline will connect onshore to an existing 31 km gas pipeline that runs between Santa Catarina and Parana and facilitate construction and environmental licensing, according to the Golar report. This pipeline would later connect with the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline, and would be utilised to supply gas to other interior regions of Brazil.
The TGS project is expected to assist Brazil in meeting growing demand for gas in its southern region, which is already limited in the amount of supply it receives from land-locked Bolivia.