On September 28, 2017, in Panama City, our Partner & Director Álvaro Ríos Roca participated as a commentator on the Opening Session: The vision for LNG and natural gas in Panama energy sector and the economy; given by the National Secretary of Energy, Víctor Carlos Urrutia Guardia.
Panama has been for a long time a key center for international trade and merchandising, while its economy has consistently been one of the fastest growing in Central America. Since 2010, Panama has an average GDP growth just fewer than 8% per year. With the recent inauguration of the Panama Canal expansion and the new locks complex, as well as the development of a major electricity generation project from liquefied natural gas (LNG) and natural gas, which would be online in 2018, the country’s economy and energy sector are at a crucial situation in the management and optimization of natural gas deployment.
The Panama’s notable annual GDP growth has also brought a proportional increase in energy demand and, more recently, serious system voltages, including blackouts with a domino effect throughout the isthmus. The country has developed and presented the National Energy Plan 2015-2050, with important targets for renewable energy and natural gas in the coming years. But in the short term, much of the energy policy debate is focusing on the Panama’s transmission and infrastructure system viability, as well as the entry of natural gas into the country’s energy matrix and its supposed transformational impact.
The Panama energy market evolution, due to natural gas, generates a series of questions about the most appropriate governance for this energy source -new for Panama-, the most rational framework to maximize the short-term LNG project and the electric generation, as well as greater opportunities for the country, that go beyond the electric market. Additionally, with this project Panama joins an increasingly long list of countries that make up the global LNG market, which also has important geopolitical and commercial connotations. In addition, with this project, Panama joins an increasingly long list of countries that integrates a global LNG market, which also has important geopolitical and commercial connotations.
The objective of this one-day executive roundtable is to foster dialogue between government, private sector and civil society around the nation’s energy perspective, as well as the opportunities and challenges to keep its economic boom in the most sustainable way possible, but particularly taking into account the LNG and natural gas arrival in the country’s economy and energy sector in a broader context.
Managing the natural gas arrival in Panama was a critical point of discussion, where panelists focused on the implications for the electricity sector, industry, transportation, including ship supply and the Panama Canal role. The natural gas development in Panama at the regional level, in Central America, and the Caribbean was also analyzed, particularly in relation to the many-years-ago regional integration efforts and the Regional Electricity Market (REM) evolution.
Source: “Agenda mesa Redonda” (Panama’s Roundtable Schedule, 2017), by: Institute of The Americas.
