Reuters: Vopak mulls LNG storage facility in SE Asia to tap demand

Vopak is considering building a liquefied natural gas terminal in Southeast Asia, the chief executive of the Dutch independent storage company said, as it is a key supply route for a region that is home to the world's top LNG buyers.

Besides boosting trade flows, a move by Vopak to build its first Asian LNG terminal could also spur competition among countries such as Singapore and Malaysia that are trying to position themselves as LNG trading hubs, given their location on the main shipping route between Europe and Asia.

"If you look at LNG storage, we are interested in locations which have a relatively large and liberal gas market, and shipping routes where we believe LNG is most likely to be traded," Chief Executive Eelco Hoekstra told Reuters.

"So Southeast Asia is obviously one of the locations that comes to mind," Hoekstra said in an interview on Wednesday, a day before the official opening of the firm's commercial oil storage terminal in Pengerang, southeast of Malaysia's southern state of Johor. MORE