Hawaii Gas taps international firm for $300M LNG project
Hawaii Gas has chosen an international company for the Honolulu gas utility’s $300 million plan to ship in liquefied natural gas in bulk amounts to the Islands, an executive from the company confirmed to PBN Friday.
Hawaii Gas estimates that its LNG bulk shipment plan could save the state in excess of $2 billion over a 15-year period from the beginning of 2019 through the end of 2033, as first reported by PBN.
“We have decided on a company that we made a final award to,” Joseph Boivin, senior vice president of business development and corporate affairs for Hawaii Gas, told PBN. “It’s an international company. The contracts will be finalized at the end of the first quarter.”
Boivin declined to name the company, although he noted that it will be responsible for the supply of LNG to Hawaii and ownership and operation of the planned floating storage and regasificiation unit.
“Depending on how things go this year, with support for the [LNG] program, by the end of 2019 is still a reasonable timeframe to get things up and running,” Boivin said, pointing out that its contract with the international firm still needs the approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.
New York’s Macquarie Infrastructure Co. (NYSE: MIC), the parent company of Hawaii Gas, said in its third-quarter earnings report that Hawaii Gas got 55 bids from companies with experience in large-scale bulk LNG projects.
Hawaii Gas is the first company in the state to import LNG to the Islands.
Hawaiian Electric Co.’s $235 million LNG plan also is pegged to start shipments in 2019, with up to 800,000 tons of fuel per year for up to 15 years.