LNG Terminal in Bahrain
GS Engineering & Construction said on Dec. 3 that it won a project to build an offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Bahrain. The EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) project, which is worth 760 billion won (US$652.64 million), was commissioned by Bahrain LNG W.L.L. At the signing ceremony held on the Dec. 2 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bahrain, Bahraini Minister of Energy Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, GS E&C Vice President Huh Sun-haeng, and others involved in the deal were in attendance.
The project calls for building berths for LNG carriers and floating storage units and regasification facilities on an offshore location 4.3 kilometers away from the Hidd Industrial Area to the east of the nation's capital Manama. The facilities will be linked through underwater and surface gas pipelines. This is a "BOOT" (build, own, operate, and transfer) project undertaken by Bahrain's National Oil & Gas Authority (NOGA). GS E&C has worked with its principal contractor Bahrain LNG W.L.L. as an EPC partner. The length of the construction is 32 months from the time of beginning the project and is scheduled to kick off commercial operation by July 2018.
Bahrain has been pushing forward the project in order to meet the growing demand for energy by supplying LNG. Once the first LNG terminal in the nation is completed, GS will be able to import up to 800 million cubic feet of natural gas a day, equivalent to about 20 percent of the nation's daily natural gas consumption of 4.4 billion cubic feet.
With the latest contract, GS E&C has paved the way to expand its LNG importing terminal business opportunities planned in Asia, Middle East and Africa.