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Contractors rush for expansion job at Reganosa plant

Four contractor groups have lined up to contest for the job to expand Spain's
Reganosa terminal in Galicia, officially dubbed El Ferrol LNG.

Spain's Sener has buddied up with Italian outfit Techint and Canada's ACS,
according to a local source. Technicas Reunidas of Spain is bidding with
compatriot Acciona. US player Fluor is leading a bid with an unspecified local
construction company, as is TGE. Reganosa issued the invitation to tender in
March. Final bids and a formal award are expected later this year. US engineer
Foster Wheeler completed basic designs for the expansion early in 2008. The dual
vaporizer revamp will increase send-out capacity by 250,000 cubic metres of gas
per hour from its current level of 415,000.

This will raise annual capacity to around 6 billion cubic metres from the
current 3.6 Bcm. Concerns had been growing that a lump-sum turnkey contract
model would not attract many bids for the relatively modest project, and a
fallback plan would be required. Depending on the eventual pricing of the
commercial bids, the relative enthusiasm shown for the package has surprised
some in the market.

It could indicate slim pickings elsewhere, one US-based LNG watcher said, with
contractors becoming less willing to turn down job opportunities.

The Reganosa expansion is one of three terminal ramp-up projects on Spain's
northern coast. Enagas is already building the new 8 Bcm Gijon terminal with
Fluor handling main engineering. Bahia de Bizkaia's 7 Bcm import terminal in
Bilbao has been lined up for a third storage tank to take capacity above 10.5
Bcm.