Myanmar imports first two LNG cargoes from Malaysia's Petronas

Singapore — The Southeast Asian country of Myanmar imported its first liquefied natural gas cargoes from Malaysia's Petronas LNG in May and June 2020, under a sale and purchase agreement signed with power company CNTIC VPower in early 2020, Petronas said in a statement June 4.

The LNG deliveries make Myanmar the newest LNG importing country at a time when the global LNG sector is suffering from capital expenditure cuts and project deferrals, on the back of the coronavirus pandemic and low prices.

Petronas said the maiden LNG cargoes to Yangon were sold on an FOB basis, amounting to a total LNG volume of 190,000 cubic meters under the terms of the agreement with CNTIC VPower.

"Both LNG cargoes were loaded at Petronas LNG Complex in Bintulu, Sarawak, and were delivered on 7 May 2020, onboard the CNTIC VPower Global, and on 3 June 2020, onboard the Golar Kelvin," Petronas said.

CNTIC VPower Global is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based power producer VPower Group and China National Technical Import & Export Corp. The joint venture is developing three gas-fired power projects in Myanmar with an aggregate contract capacity of 900 MW, VPower's website showed.

"With Myanmar as the latest nation to adopt LNG as a form of cleaner energy, Petronas looks forward to being a long-term partner and supplier, leveraging on our world-class reliability, as well as innovative and customer-centric solutions," Petronas LNG Chief Executive Abdul Aziz Othman said.

Petronas said it allowed the 28,000 cubic meter vessel CNTIC VPower Global to dock at its Bintulu terminal where cooling-down services were provided.