Panama Backs Proposal to
Build Energy Hub
PANAMA CITY - Panama is
backing a private $40
billion proposal to make
the country a regional
energy hub, the latest
in a string of similar
initiatives, Vice
President Samuel Lewis
Navarro said on Tuesday.
The project, put forward
by Energias, a
consortium led by
Spanish firm Tecnicas
Reunidas (TRE.MC: Quote,
Profile, Research) and
Singapore's Jurong
Consultants Pte Ltd,
would create two energy
parks - one each on
Panama's Pacific and
Caribbean coasts.
If the project gets
financing and overcomes
environmental concerns,
it would include
facilities to refine
around 2 million barrels
of crude oil a day. It
would also include
include liquefied
natural gas import
terminals and
petrochemical production
plants.
Jesus Barderas, head of
the consortium, said he
believed there was room
for the project
alongside at least two
previously announced
regional energy
development deals.
Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N:
Quote, Profile,
Research) is planning to
build a $8 billion
refinery at Puerto
Armuelles, on Panama's
Pacific coast near the
Costa Rican border.
Central American
governments, working
with private companies,
have announced plans to
to build a refinery in
Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Honduras or Panama, as
part of a wider energy
project.
The two energy parks in
Panama would be linked
by a 56-mile (90-km)
long oil pipeline that
would follow the route
of the Panama canal.
The planned route for
the oil pipeline would
pass close to Gatun
Lake, which supplies
drinking water for many
Panamanians and the
water needed for the
Panama canal.
The project would source
oil from South America
and bring it to markets
on the both coasts of
the United States, as
well as the emerging
markets of China and
India.
"We want to take
advantage of Panama's
geographic position,"
Barderas said. "The
country is equidistant
between sources of oil
production and the
centers of consumption."
Talks are ongoing with
BP Plc., Total S.A.,
Petrobras, Samsung and
PetroChina Company
Limited about their
involvement in the
project, consortium vice
president Luis Marin
said.
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