Northern Colombia News

The largest German bulk carrier company Oldendorff Carriers GmbH, which operates around 700 ships, said that its Lydia Oldendorff (207,562 tdw built 2015) has set a record as the largest vessel to load coal at Puerto Bolivar, Colombia.The Newcastlemax vessel has a length of 300 meters and a breadth of 50 meters and was loaded on a trial cargo draft of 17.5 meters. The cargo loaded is destined for Flushing, in the port of Antwerp in Belgium, where it will again be the largest vessel to enter the port.Oldendorff Carriers currently operates a fleet of about 65 modern eco-Newcastlemax (203-211,000 tdw) vessels. Oldendorff Newcastlemax vessels feature fuel saving devices such as…

A barge carrying construction materials for U.S.-based Drummond Co Inc, Colombia's second biggest coal miner, was shipwrecked at the company's port late last week, the company said on Sunday, causing leakage of some diesel fuel into the sea. Drummond only recently reopened the port in northern Colombia after the government had shut down operations until the miner completed an upgrade to meet new environmental legislation. It missed the January deadline for finishing work. RCN Radio said the vessel was carrying 60 gallons (227 liters) of diesel oil. A Drummond statement confirmed the incident and said the crew was rescued but did not mention the amount of fuel that leaked into the sea.

In order to tap into Colombian stranded gas reserves, Pacific Rubiales Energy Corporation and EXMAR nv have partnered in a project to build and operate a floating LNG liquefaction, and storage unit, the Caribbean FLNG, which will be stationed at a jetty several kilometers off the Caribbean coast of Colombia for at least 15 years. In order to protect the hull of the Caribbean FLNG, keep it clean and facilitate class inspections over that time period without recourse to drydock and without causing harm to the local marine environment…

Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp., acting through its wholly-owned subsidiary Pacific Stratus Energy Colombia Corp. (“PSE”), announced the signing of a natural gas/ LNG Liquefaction, Regasification, Storage and Loading Services Agreement with Belgium based EXMAR NV (“EXMAR”). The Agreement calls for EXMAR to build, operate and maintain a Floating Liquefaction Regasification & Storage Unit (“FLRSU”), to be located on the Colombian Caribbean coast. The Agreement grants PSE exclusive guaranteed rights to supply and liquefy up to 69.5 MMscf/d (+/- 0.5 million tons of LNG per annum) over a 15 year period, under a tolling structure. The FLRSU will have a storage capacity of 14,000 m3 of LNG and will be able to accommodate alongside a 140,000 m3 LNG Floating Storage Unit (“FSU”).

EXMAR has teamed up with Pacific Rubiales to build a small-scale LNG export project in northern Colombia. The Colombian-Canadian exploration and production player and EXMAR have begun front-end engineering and design for the scheme. Plans involve building a small liquefaction barge and a pipeline from the company’s La Creciente gas field to the Caribbean coast and shipping to the targeted markets. The project is targeting Caribbean and Central American markets. Pacific Rubiales…