Resumen de Evolution of Liquified Gas Transit Through the Panama Canal: An Opportunity for Exploiting the Expanded Canal

Luis Carral Couce, Laura Castro-Santos, Javier Tarrío Saavedra , Adán Vega Sáenz, Johnny Bogle, Rodolfo Sabonge

• The transit of vessels of liquified natural gas by the Panama Canal is a recent fact derived from the increase in the production and exchanges of natural gas via the sea. The application of new extraction technologies in the United States has as a consequence a surplus in production and an increase in gas exports through the progressive adaptation and entry into service of maritime terminals. At the same time, the consumption in Pacific Asia is rising as a result of the development of emerging economies and Japan’s policy of energy diversification after the Fukushima event. This imbalance between production and consumption between the Atlantic and Pacific maritime areas, and the increase in its transport demand, coincides in time with the recent expansion of the Panama Canal. The consequences for shipping seem clear because the Canal opens the possibility of LNG shipments from the Gulf of Mexico in the United States and Trinidad and Tobago to Asia. The LNG transport flows directed to Asian consumers are greatly influenced by the Canal rates. Estimations of minimum and maximum LNG loads corresponding to the years 2020 and 2035 have been used to achieve the objective of this paper: to study the effect of these flows on the sea route that transits Panama and its influence on the exploitation of its Canal.