en.Wedoany.com Reported - Frontera subsidiary Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahaa (99.97% owned by Frontera) has signed a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) lease agreement with Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project. The terminal is located at the Bocachica access channel in Cartagena Bay and serves as a multi-purpose offshore logistics terminal. The agreement will be implemented in two phases, with an initial regasification capacity of 126 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) starting in 2027, increasing to 300 MMcfd two years later.

To fulfill the contract and meet additional demand, Puerto Bahia has signed an FSRU lease and operation and maintenance service contract with a US company. The company is one of the world's largest suppliers and operators of floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), and Frontera did not disclose its specific name. Based on the description, the FSRU owner may be US operator Excelerate Energy. Excelerate declined to comment. The FSRU has a regasification capacity of approximately 500 MMcfd, with an initial lease term of seven years, extendable by five to eight years. The project is expected to commence commercial operations in early 2027. Frontera stated that the take-or-pay agreement signed with Ecopetrol represents committed offtake volumes, designed to support the FSRU lease contract. The project's prospects are underpinned by Colombia's growing natural gas supply gap, supply pressures from the El Niño phenomenon, and potential incremental demand from third parties.

Ecopetrol is simultaneously advancing multiple LNG import infrastructure projects. Its FSRU project at the Covenas offshore terminal has launched a tender, and pipeline subsidiary Cenit has received approval from the national environmental licensing authority to convert existing offshore crude oil facilities for LNG use, with an expected regasification capacity of 400 million cubic feet per day and an anticipated utilization capacity of 110 million cubic feet per day. In March last year, Ecopetrol signed an agreement with PIO SAS for regasification infrastructure on Colombia's Pacific coast, serving as a new supply source to meet natural gas demand before the offshore project starts. The infrastructure plans to provide receiving and storage services in Buenaventura, with regasification in Buga (Valle del Cauca department) at a capacity of 60 million cubic feet per day, expected to be operational in August 2026. Additionally, Belgian shipowner Exmar has secured a contract from Regasificadora Del Pacífico (RDP) to deploy a floating storage unit off Colombia's west coast.

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