Regional LNG: Chile to build LNG processing facilities

Chile plans to develop LNG receiving terminal which is scheduled to be completed in 2007 to reduce its energy dependecy from neighboring country Argentina, Chilean president ricardo Lagos said Thursday.

Lagos was quoted by agencies as saying that the LNG processing facilities would cost US$400 million to $500. State oil company Enap would be in charge of developing the project.

Chile, which has very little domestic oil production, imports 90 percent of its fuel and began buying natural gas from Argentina in the mid-1990s.

In his trip to Asia last week, Lagos said he received an offer from Indonesia for liquefied natural gas.

The project in Chile would include an international tender for gas producers, the construction of a special port and a plant in Chile to regasify the fuel, which would then be pumped into Chile's existing natural gas network.

The project will let Enap meet its requirement of an additional 1.5 million cubic meters daily of natural gas for its refinery after 2007, the president said.

"In this way, Enap will ensure its own supply of gas."(*)