Analyst: Myanmar to resume LNG imports following cargo received last month

Myanmar will resume LNG imports in 2019 after receiving half of a cargo of the super-chilled fuel last month. This marks an end to a four-year-long hiatus of shipments.

After the civil war, shipments of LNG to Southeast Asia were stopped. Since then, Myanmar has experienced gas shortages and widespread blackouts.

Analyst Nelson Xiong said that Kpler expected Myanmar to import 0.4 millions tons of LNG by 2026. Two'restarted' or upgraded LNG to power projects will ramp up to a total 500 megawatts.

According to Kpler?data the Dapeng Princess Tanker picked up LNG from the Bintulu LNG Plant in East Malaysia?on 11/12/11 before delivering it the Thilawa FSU?in the south of Myanmar.

"Kpler data show?the Thilawa flotation storage unit (FSU), CNTIC VPower Energy arrived in Yangon on November 16 and berthed, while the Dapeng Princess released half a load on November 23 likely for fuel generator tests runs," Xiong stated.

The Myanmar Ministry of Information did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Myanmar began importing LNG for the first time in June 2020, when Malaysia's Petronas delivered its first cargo to CNTIC VPower. This joint venture is between China's state-owned China National Technical Import & Export Corporation (CNTIC), and Hong Kong-based VPower Group, a power distributor.

The Southeast Asian nation stopped imports after a coup in August 2021. It had received a total 550,000 metric tons of LNG. According to Kpler, the last time it received LNG was in August 2021.

The receiving terminal located by the Yangon River in Myanmar is made up of a FSU and a regasification onshore unit.

CNTIC and VPower Group have not responded to our requests for comment. (Reporting and editing by Emily Chow, staff and Muralikumar Aantharaman).

(source: Reuters)