Bahrain's First LNG Terminal Ready for Business

Bahrain expected to start LNG imports early this year; FSU on 20-year time charter to Bahrain LNG arrives in the Gulf

Bahrain's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating unit arrived in the Gulf this week as the country gets ready for its maiden imports of the super-chilled fuel this year, data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.

Bahrain Spirit, a floating storage unit (FSU) with a capacity of about 173,000 cubic meters, is currently anchored in Fujairah after docking in the United Arab Emirates region on Jan. 13, the data showed.

The FSU is on a 20-year charter to Bahrain LNG, who is the developer of a wider receiving and regasification terminal within the Khalifa bin Salman Port facility, in Hidd, Bahrain, according to Bahrain LNG's website.

Bahrain LNG did not reply to an email requesting comment.

It is jointly owned by the National Oil and Gas Authority of Bahrain, Teekay LNG Partners, Samsung Construction and Trading and the Gulf Investment Corp.

Besides the FSU, the terminal will also house an offshore LNG receiving jetty and breakwater, an adjacent regasification platform, subsea gas pipelines from the platform to shore, an onshore gas receiving facility, and an onshore nitrogen production facility, according to the website.

"Bahrain LNG import terminal will provide Bahrain with both an insurance policy in case of potential shortages of gas and the ability to supplement domestic gas supplies with gas from LNG," the website states.

The LNG import terminal, which is expected to start commercial operations early this year, will allow Bahrain to import the super-chilled fuel for the small Arab state's growing demand for natural gas to fuel large industrial projects, generate power and water and for enhanced oil recovery.

The project will have a capacity of 800 million cubic feet per day.

LNG will be delivered to the import terminal by LNG carrier ships, where it will be stored in the FSU, according to Bahrain LNG website.

The LNG will be turned back into natural gas using sea water to warm the LNG and the natural gas will then be transferred in a buried pipeline to shore where it will supply the existing natural gas pipeline network operated by national oil company Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco). 

(Reuters reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Rashmi Aich)