We should recall the frantic efforts that were made during the early years of this decade to ensure a place among the first importers of LNG to what was then an expanding market in a country with falling production. However, as some terminal developers have observed, LNG plants are not built as a short-term measure.

The first two consignments of LNG arrived in April 2008 at separate terminals in Louisiana and Texas, while the first shipment of liquefied gas arrived at the beginning of June at the terminal in Ensenada, on the coast some 50 miles south of the city of San Diego.

The licence to build the TransCanada gas pipeline came into effect on 25 November 2008. It should be remembered that this gas pipeline has aroused some controversy as the project has advanced, the aim being to carry gas across Canada from the Alaskan fields to south of the 48th parallel.

Even the network of commercial relationships that was evident two years ago (Bolivia was selling to Brazil and Argentina, which in turn supplied almost 90% of Chile’s requirements) is rapidly changing. Insufficient supply capacity among the traditional suppliers (the result in many cases of a sharp fall in investment, which has been particularly serious in Bolivia, among other countries) especially at the peak of the southern winter has, among other causes, led to a new approach, with greater independence among importer countries based, as already mentioned, on the LNG market.

Argentina was the first country in the region to import LNG (in the middle of 2008, managed by Repsol Stream), followed by Brazil in August, both using floating terminals. Chile plans to take delivery of its first consignments from gas tankers at two terminals (this time land-based) that will come on-line during 2009 in Quintero and Mejillones, built respectively by BP and Suez.

The way events will unfold in Brazil over the medium term is not clear. The country has opened a second terminal in the Bay of Guanabara, but the confirmation of significant natural gas fields in its territorial waters make it highly probable that the country will become an exporter over the next decade. Brazil’s natural gas output rose by more than 20% during 2008. The Delta Caribe East LNG project replaces the Mariscal Sucre (2005) and Cristóbal Colón (1996) projects. The country is looking at the option of three liquefaction trains, each owned by a different company. Each train would have a capacity of 6.5 bcm per year.