Singapore offers LNG traders location, infrastructure and ecosystem: Koh Poh Koon

FOR liquefied natural gas (LNG) traders, Singapore offers strategic location, infrastructure and a trading ecosystem that can help them unlock regional business, Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and National Development said on Saturday.

Usage of LNG is growing in Southeast Asia, while environmentally driven policies like sulphur caps on marine fuel could add demand from shippers for LNG as bunkering fuel, Mr Koh added.

Conditions are therefore primed for Singapore to take advantage of these trends, Mr Koh said at a ceremony to mark the inaugural arrival of LNG cargo for Pavilion Energy under a three-year licence to import up to 1 million tonnes of LNG per year.

Keeping up infrastructure support for the sector, Singapore LNG is expected to complete its fourth storage tank - and the world's largest - by the first half of 2018, and will soon call for proposals to use its spare terminal capacity.

Singapore LNG is also modifying its jetty by 2019 to take vessels as small as 2,000 cubic metres. This will enhance bulk breaking and meet regional demand for smaller scale volumes, said Mr Koh.

To further augment Singapore's development as a gas price discovery and trading hub, the Energy Market Authority has also enabled spot pricing for LNG gas buyers as of this year.