An energy company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is developing a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies on the country's eastern coast, bypassing the strategically sensitive Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg newspaper said on Thursday. The new terminal will be built in the port city of Juairah, which faces the Gulf of Oman and not the Strait of Hormuz, which will keep LNG import flowing even if Iran decides to block tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the paper said. LNG is chilled natural gas converted into a liquid form for easier transport on specially designed supertankers. Although the UAE is OPEC's third-largest oil exporter, it must import natural gas to meet domestic energy needs, Bloomberg said. The gas and oil division of Mubadala Development Co., which owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, was said to have confirmed that it is working on the project, although it declined to discuss how much gas the facility would handle. Bloomberg said Mubadala expects the terminal to receive its first supplies in two to three years. The Fujairah terminal will be based around a floating LNG storage and regasification unit — effectively a stationary ship that holds and converts the fuel back into gas before piping it onshore, Bloomberg said. It quoted Leslie Palti-Guzman, described as a natural gas expert for the consulting firm Eurasia Group, as saying that that type of terminal is a “convenient, fast-track solution to get gas” and takes less time to install than a similar facility on land. The development of the plant was conceived because of the Emirates's growing domestic power needs but it becomes timely with the repeated threats by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.
