Costa Rica: it’s a gas

Costa Rica will build a natural gas port in Limón on the Caribbean coast, with completion scheduled for as early as 2015, according to an announcement last week by Recope the state-owned monopoly oil importer. The gas port will be connected via a pipeline to a power-generation plant in nearby Moín, operated by the state-owned Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad.

The new facility will let the plant burn gas, instead of diesel, which it currently uses, thus cutting costs of operation, as well as CO2 output. It is likely that Costa Rica will soon implement a similar program at Puntarenas on the Pacific Coast, only 25 kilometers from an ICE plant at Garabito.

The Limón port will also create opportunities for transport of compressed natural gas to major consumers, including producers of cement, aluminum and steel, along with auto-parts factories.

Next to convert to gas could be fleet vehicles, including trucks, buses and taxis.