The Panama Canal Authority will allow LNG carriers to receive bunkers within the Explosives Area of the Pacific Anchorage after coordination with the authority's Flamenco Signal Station, the PCA said. Bunkering of LNG carriers is not allowed on the Atlantic side of the canal because of rough seas.
The port authority "reassessed the current prohibition for LNG carriers to receive bunkers while in the anchorages of the Panama canal", it said in an advisory to shipowners. LNG carriers, in addition to burning off their own LNG cargo as fuel, can also burn heavy bunker fuel and marine gasoil (MGO).
During the Panama Canal's fiscal year (FY) 2016, which runs from October through September, there were 17 LNG carrier transits, compared with two transits in FY 2015. The port authority reported 5.53mn long tonnes of LNG moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific and 208,000 long tonnes of LNG moving from the Pacific to the Atlantic in FY 2016.
Panama is not currently importing LNG, but there are plans for an LNG complex: US utility AES' $1bn, 380MW combined-cycle gas turbine and associated LNG terminal. The project, AES Colon, is located on Telfers island, in Colon province. The site includes an onshore LNG import and regasification terminal with a 180,000m³ storage tank. French company Engie will supply AES Colon with 400,000 t/yr of LNG for 10 years from 2018.
During the first eight months of 2016, Panama sold 2.42mn t of heavy bunker fuel oil and 166,069t of MGO, compared with 2.24mn t of heavy bunkers and 174,838t of MGO during the same period in 2015.
