Bahrain’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is expected to be in service by the end of 2016. The request for proposals is about to be sent out to interested companies.

Speaking at the MEED Bahrain Energy Forum in Manama, the country’s National Oil & Gas Authority’s (Noga’s) CEO, Sheikh Mohamad bin Khalifa al-Khalifa, said the terminal was necessary, but would mean more expensive gas.

“Throwing LNG into the mix means there is a price mismatch and this is a challenge that will need to be managed,” he told delegates.

The facility will be fixed, but will have floating storage. The capacity is expected to be 400 million cubic feet a day (cf/d).  The successful bidder will sign a build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) agreement for an operational period of 20 years.

The scope of work includes the construction of floating gas storage, a ship-unloading system, LNG storage tanks, a regasification and send-out system, marine works, a jetty and other associated works.

However, Sheikh Mohamad added that despite having a permanent LNG terminal in place, this did not mean regular imports of LNG due to the high prices demanded for the resource. 

“Prices are not in the range we are comfortable with at the moment,” he told delegates. “We just want to build the infrastructure and have it available.”

The official added that no agreements had been signed with any LNG supplier and that discussions were ongoing within Noga regarding LNG partners.

Bahrain has been planning a LNG terminal for several years, but the plans stalled after the 2011 protests. Bahrain has a domestic gas capacity of about 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d), but most of the resource is used by heavy industry and for power production.