Brazil’s GNLink to start ops at 3 gas liquefaction, compression facilities in 2024

Brazilian natural gas distributor GNLink plans to have three liquefaction and compression projects in operation in 2024, CEO Marcelo Rodrigues told BNamericas. 

Construction work began on one of them earlier this month. Located in Itabuna, Bahia state, the facility will have the capacity to liquify 98,000m3/d of gas. 

With an investment of 155mn reais (US$31.4mn), the project – a partnership with Petrobahia and Bahiagás – is scheduled to begin operations in the third quarter of next year. 

A second project will be deployed in the Barra Bonita gas field in Pitanga municipality in Paraná state, which will be operated by Barra Bonita Óleo e Gás.

The project will be implemented in two phases. In the first, the system will have the capacity to liquefy 44,000m3/d of gas and that amount will be doubled in the second phase.

The third undertaking is still in the development stage and Rodrigues provided no details. 

"We’ll be very well positioned at national level by the end of 2025 with at least six LNG [liquefied natural gas] and CNG [compressed natural gas] distribution operations, and we’re supporting piped natural gas distributors and end customers in the internalization of the fuel in regions not served by gas pipelines," he said.

The executive added that only 5% of Brazilian municipalities currently have natural gas available, despite the fuel being sought after by the market to reduce carbon emissions. 

"In this energy transition, in addition to industries, the mobility market, that is, trucks, vehicles and ships, will increasingly demand natural gas as a fuel," Rodrigues said.

He believes that, just as has happened abroad, "green corridors" will be implemented in Brazil to internalize natural gas. 

"Brazil imports traditional fuels such as diesel and LPG, and the availability of domestic gas will increase in the coming years. We don't believe that the pipeline infrastructure will be able to keep up with this increase in natural gas supply," the executive said.

Incorporated in 2022, GNLink is a company in which asset manager Lorinvest has invested. 

Its aim is to take gas to places where it is not yet available, with multimodal distribution by road and sea, the latter carried out by Norsul, also part of the Lorinvest group.