Global regasification capacity under construction hits 10-year high

Global regasification (regas) capacity under construction is expected to hit a 10-year high at 144 million tons per year (mmtpy) in 2020, says Wood Mackenzie.  

This includes 33 new terminals under construction, adding 92.8 mmtpy, and a further 51.0 mmtpy of capacity which is set to be added at existing terminals.

The world’s fastest growing demand center, China, is unsurprisingly leading the regas capacity additions, accounting for over a third or 52.6 mmtpy of total regas capacity including 22.4 mmtpy at 10 new terminals.

Wood Mackenzie research director Giles Farrer said: “Access to capacity in China is being shaken up, with the new national pipeline company, PipeChina, likely to take ownership of a number of national oil company-owned terminals soon. China also suffered from delays in capacity additions due to Covid-19, with expected expansion of the Caofeidian and Rudong terminals facing risks of slipping to 2021.”

Schedules in South Asia have also been impacted by coronavirus, with delays to construction of pipeline infrastructure, limiting send-out from some of the terminals. India is also building five new terminals with 20.0 mmtpy of total capacity. 

Elsewhere, Europe may see up to 13.0 mmtpy of additional capacity from expansion projects until 2025 across the Netherlands, Poland, France, Greece, and UK.

Wood Mackenzie expects a total of seven regas terminals to take final investment decision (FID) this year. Three new regas terminals – Cyprus LNG, and China’s Yantai LNG and Tianjin LNG – have already taken FID in the first half of 2020. 

Farrer said: “We think a further four terminals have a good chance of reaching FID before the end of the year: Alexandropoulos LNG, in Eastern Greece, Hong Kong LNG, Vila do Conde terminal from Golar, located in North Brazil and Puerto Sandino, in Nicaragua.”

A total of four new projects have started receiving cargoes this year. These include Brazil’s Sergipe LNG, India’s Mundra LNG, Puerto Rico’s San Juan project and most recently Myanmar’s Thanlyin project.

Wood Mackenzie’s Asia LNG Research Analyst Otavio Veras added: “Southeast Asia has been an important region for regas development this year. Vietnam and Myanmar have both completed terminals in record time to help stave off looming power shortages. Hai Linh Company has completed construction of a terminal in Vung Tau, Southeast Vietnam and plans to begin commercial operations by Q2 2021. In Myanmar, a small-scale terminal, located in Thanlyin, near the capital Yangon, received its first LNG cargo from PETRONAS, in May 2020.”

The developers of both the Vietnam and Myanmar regas projects have taken more risk to deliver their projects. Both terminals are privately owned and started construction before any sales and purchase agreements were signed. In Myanmar, novel offloading systems, operated by LNG-Easy have also been used to begin imports before terminal construction is complete. 

Perhaps the most interesting development is the proposed regas in Southern Mozambique targeted for construction in Q1 2021. 

Farrer said: “Although demand in Southern Mozambique is presently modest, the terminal will also target demand in Northern South Africa to replace decline at the Pande and Temane fields, which currently supply gas to more than 30 industries in the Maputo/Matola area and also to South Africa, through the 865-km ROMPCO pipeline.” 

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