December 3, 2018 [S&P Global Platts] - LAUGFS Terminals Limited, a unit of the Sri Lankan LAUGFS Gas Plc, has commissioned the LPG Transshipment Terminal at Hambantota port and will receive its first commercial cargo from December 15, the company said this week, adding to a growing list of companies building LPG terminals in Asia.
The $80 million LPG import and export terminal on the southern tip of Sri Lanka will support LAUGFS Gas’ rapid expansion plan in the region, towards making it an integrated regional LPG player in the Indian Ocean Rim, it said.
The first phase of the project was completed with a 30,000 mt storage terminal. It can receive and store refrigerated propane and butane separately or in mixed form, via very large gas carriers and pressurized vessels.
Plans are underway for capacity to be extended to 45,000 mt with the completion of the second phase project of 15,000 mt, making the new LAUGFS LPG Terminal a hub for LPG importing, re-exporting and supply to retailers, it said.
LAUGFS Gas Chairman W.K.H.Wegapitiya told S&P Global Platts that discussions are ongoing between the company and suppliers for LPG term supply contracts. He declined to give details.
“Fruitful discussions are also ongoing with prospective partners,” for usage of the terminal, he added.
Sri Lanka needs around 480,000 mt/year of LPG, he said.
The terminal caters to LAUGFS Gas’ demand in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well as serves as a regional LPG hub for many Asian LPG firms, the company said.
LAUGFS has also invested in improving their LPG-related infrastructure in Bangladesh, where it is expanding its existing storage terminal at Mongla port.
LAUGFS’ presence in the sector ranges from LPG downstream activities in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by LAUGFS Gas, to LPG ocean freight services and related logistics with its own LPG fleet by LAUGFS Maritime Services Ltd., while energy trading is handled by Dubai-based SLOGAL Energy DMCC.
Asia’s growing LPG market and increased global supply sources have prompted several companies to build LPG terminals in recent years.
The latest was Norwegian oil and gas producer Equinor and independent storage and logistics provider Global Petro Storage, which have concluded a long-term deal to build and operate an LPG terminal at Malaysia’s Port Klang, slated to start operations around mid-2021 and aimed at bolstering its regional market share. The terminal will have two 65,000 cu m tanks plus some pressurized LPG storage units.
Royal Vopak also has an LPG receiving terminal at Singapore’s Banyan terminal, in which SKGI, the investment arm of South Korea’s SK Gas, has a 20% stake and which gives it trading flexibility. The 80,000 cu m terminal has the potential for future expansion, Vopak had said.
Japan’s Itochu has also taken a 19.7% stake in India’s Hindustan Aegis LPG from Aegis Logistics, which started up last year at the Haldia LPG terminal.
Rapid expansions of propane dehydrogenation plants in recent years have also seen several LPG terminals built in China’s southeastern coast and on the northeast.
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