ENAP, Chile’s state oil company, has announced that it may begin using US shale gas during the first half of 2016 through an ongoing supply contract with Britain’s BG Group Plc.
Maximo Pacheco, the Energy Minister, has stated that ENAP has signed a long-term deal with Centrica-owned British Gas to import shale gas from the US at the end of 2015. ENAP has confirmed that it is oil and gas firm BG Group that “will be in conditions to supply the fuel once the (U.S. LNG) Sabine Pass terminal starts operating at the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016.”
BG Group has stated that the possible arrival of the US shale gas could diversify Chile’s liquefied natural gas supplies, which can be imported without tariffs thanks to the free trade agreement between the two countries.
The recent surge in shale gas production by the US is transforming the global energy market. Previously, the US was a regular LNG importer, but it is now set to export significant volumes by the end of the decade.