Bahía Blanca GasPort®

Location: Bahía Blanca, Argentina
Date: Commissioned June 2008
Owner: YPF, S.A.; Repsol-Stream

Background

With more than 50 percent of its internal energy consumption derived from natural gas, Argentina depends heavily on that fuel for residential, industrial, and transportation use. In 2007, the country was faced with the possibility of a natural gas supply shortage, due to increased consumption and the popularity of the fuel. In partnership with Repsol-Stream, YPF, S.A. approached Excelerate Energy for an economical and timely solution to bring more natural gas to market. In response, we developed the Bahía Blanca GasPort (BBGP). Located 400 miles south of Buenos Aires in the port city of Bahía Blanca, BBGP was Argentina’s first LNG receiving facility. Providing access to Argentina’s gas grid, the facility delivers much-needed natural gas to industrial, commercial and residential customers.

Solution

Utilizing one of our dockside facility designs, BBGP employs Excelerate's Energy Bridge® floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in conjunction with an articulated high-pressure gas-offloading arm.

At the BBGP, our FSRU is moored at the jetty to regasify LNG onboard and deliver high-pressure natural gas. The gas comes ashore via an integrated mid-ship gas manifold connected to Excelerate’s HP gas arm. The BBGP is capable of receiving natural gas at a baseload rate of 400 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) with peak rates of up to 500 MMcf/d. It is also flexible enough to accommodate increased throughput resulting from the higher vaporization capacity of future FSRUs. The BBGP is supplied with LNG from various global LNG supply sources and receives, on average, three cargoes of LNG per month. The LNG supply is delivered into the GasPort via our ship-to-ship LNG transfer protocol. The LNG supply transfer takes place at the same time LNG is being regasified and delivered into Argentina’s gas distribution system by the FSRU and ensures a continuous supply to the local market.

Results

Of the many compelling features of the BBGP facility, the short time span from project inception to in-service, along with the relatively low capital investment, were the primary motivators behind the final investment decision. Because our proprietary GasPort template required minimal land-based infrastructure, the facility was completed in less than 10 months from design through construction. This translated to an almost 90% savings compared to a traditional land-based facility.  In addition, the inherent flexibility of our Energy Bridge FSRU design allowed the BBGP to initially operate seasonally to deliver much-needed natural gas to Argentina’s local market during the peak winter consumption period. This had the effect of reducing year-round operational and maintenance costs. As the demand for natural gas grown the port has become a year-round operation and will be expanded to accommodate one of our larger Explorer-class Energy Bridge FSRUs.
 
The simultaneous dockside STS LNG transfer, regasification and natural gas delivery operations were another industry first, accomplished by the teams from Excelerate, YPF, and Repsol-Stream. Ongoing operations and supply logistics of the BBGP are currently coordinated among the three companies.

Key Facts

• First LNG receiving facility in South America
• GasPort dockside configuration with ship-to-ship transfer
• Operates in closed-loop vaporization mode
• Baseload throughput capacity 400 MMcf/d
• Peak throughput capacity 500 MMcf/d
• Direct access to industrial consumers and Argentina’s natural gas grid
• High-pressure gas arm incorporated in design
  • Accommodates ship motions and incorporates “quick release”
  • Allows direct discharge from Energy Bridge FSRU high-pressure gas manifold