Clp Holdings Ltd News

Hong Kong's largest power company, CLP Holdings Ltd., is considering a plan to establish the city's first offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the waters east of the Soko Islands, off southern Lantau, that will enable it to tap more gas from international markets. This will come nearly a decade after it shelved a land-based version of the project in the southern Sokos despite government approval. A 25-year gas deal with the mainland was signed instead. An offshore LNG terminal, a large floating vessel, would mean greater energy security because it would allow the city to receive gas from anywhere in the world. The terminal would have the capability to store and turn a liquid form of natural gas back into its original state…

According to a Reuters report, Hong Kong utility CLP Holdings Ltd. hopes to build a terminal for liquefied natural gas by 2010 to help meet a target of slashing air pollutants by up to 20 percent from 1997. CLP has not been able to fully utilize its less polluting gas-fired plant, due to a shortage in natural gas. Its Yacheng reserve in China, from which the Black Point station has received natural gas via pipelines since 1996, is being depleted earlier than expected. Once the terminal is built, natural gas should account for half of the energy sourcing in Hong Kong, said the report. Building the terminal will require $400 million to $800 million.