SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hong Kong utility CLP Power [CLPHKF.UL] said on Friday it was finalizing an environmental impact assessment study for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project and will soon submit it to the Hong Kong government.
“Good progress has been made on LNG supply and the (floating storage and regasification unit) vessel arrangements,” a company spokesman said.
Reuters reported on Thursday that Royal Dutch Shell is close to bagging a deal to supply Hong Kong with LNG, beating out major competitors for the right to be the first company to supply the super-chilled fuel to the city.
As part of its commitment to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, Hong Kong is aiming to increase the use of natural gas in its total fuel mix for power generation to about 50 percent by 2020 from 22 percent as of 2012.
Hong Kong currently produces power using imported fuel in domestic power plants or from imported natural gas from the mainland. The country’s coal-fired plants will reach the end of their useful life in the next decade.
CLP Power is building a new gas-fired generation unit at its Black Point Power station at a cost of HK$5.5 billion ($701.4 million) and it will start operations by 2020, according to the company’s 2017 annual report.
It is also planning to develop an offshore import terminal using the FSRU that will be located in the southern waters of Hong Kong, according to the report.
Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier