Kuwait will get its first 2012 LNG cargo about March 27 and will import about 38 cargoes this year, similar to its total imports last year, a source told Platts Friday.
Kuwait began importing LNG in 2009 to meet high gas demand during its hotter months, which generally run from April to October, said the source, who did not wish to be identified.
The Woodlands, Texas-based Excelerate has a five-year contract that began in 2009 to provide a floating, storage and regasification vessel to Kuwait, with five-year renewal options, the source said. The contract with Excelerate allows for some flexibility in bringing the FSRU to Kuwait before April or keeping it there longer than October, depending on Kuwaiti demand, the source said.
Excelerate's 151,000-cubic-meter (equivalent to 3.2 Bcf of gas) Exquisite vessel is slated to arrive in Kuwait on March 27, and the 2.79-Bcf Al Wakrah vessel would bring a Qatari cargo to Kuwait at about the same time, the source said. The cargo would be loaded on to the Exquisite to be stored or regasified for use by Kuwait.
Kuwait began importing cargoes last year in mid-March, about two weeks earlier than usual, and imported 38 cargoes through October, the source said.
Even though Kuwait would start importing slightly later this year, it still likely would import the same volumes as last year, the source said.
Kuwait imported 33 cargoes in 2010 and 11 in 2009, the source said.
