Asia/Pacific News
Sri Lanka Wants LNG Bunkering at Hambantota
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is planning a liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering facility for Hambantota port in the southern part of the country, business news site Lanka Business Online reports.
A strategic plan from the SLPA outlining improvements to be made through 2020 calls for an LNG terminal that would include a gas-fuelled power plant as well as LNG bunkering.
With Singapore set to begin LNG bunkering by the time new European emissions regulations go into effect in 2015, Sri Lanka is working to be competitive.
"This emerging situation forces SLPA to explore the situation earlier than other ports in the region and to be the forerunner," the strategic plan said.
While coal is currently cheaper than LNG in Sri Lanka, gas deposits have been found in the northeast part of the country that could be extracted starting around 2017, and some analysts say the nation might subsidise LNG below world market prices at a loss of export revenues.
Hambantota is in the process of starting up its much delayed bunkering operations for standard fuel oil bunkers.
