March 12, 2025 [Oil Price]- The Panama Canal is considering an idea to build a pipeline to ship liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) across the key trade chokepoint to potentially bring gas from the U.S. to Japan, according to the canal administrator Ricaurte Vasquez.
“We’re exploring the possibility of rolling out infrastructure with the capacity to move up to a million barrels per day (bpd), but the market is much larger,” Vasquez told Reuters.
The canal authorities see moving gas through Panama as a top priority, but it’s also highly complex, according to Vasquez.
The canal administrator cited initial studies pointing out that the possible capacity of LPG traffic through the Panama Canal could reach 2 million bpd in a decade.
The administration of the Panama Canal expects to decide over the next year whether it would proceed with the plan, Vasquez told Reuters.
The idea to move gas through the canal comes amid heightened tensions between the U.S. Administration and Panama, after President Donald Trump said America should take back the canal it had helped build.
Earlier this month, a consortium led by BlackRock bought two ports on either side of the Panama Canal just a few weeks after President Trump threatened to use force to restore U.S. control over the energy chokepoint. The deal was worth $22.8 billion and also involved a few dozen ports around the world.
The finance major paid $19 billion for the ports of Balboa and Cristobal to CK Hutchinson, which is owned by one of Asia’s wealthiest individuals, Hong Kong billionaire investor Li Ka-Shing. Along with the Panama ports, CK Hutchinson will also sell its controlling stakes in 43 other ports in 23 countries.
President Trump hailed the deal, saying last week in a speech in the U.S Congress that “My administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it.”
Free Trial: Access 13,300 Tank Terminal and Production Facilities
13,300 tank storage and production facilities as per the date of this article. Click on the button and register to get instant access to actionable tank storage industry data
