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Colombia imports soar to record high in April amid drought

Colombia's liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports hit a record high in April and soared by 1,200% yearonyear in the very first 4 months of 2024, data from monetary company LSEG showed on Thursday.

Last month imports of the superchilled gas reached a record 0.45 billion cubic meters (bcm) a marked difference from no import in April 2023, LSEG data showed.

The El Nino weather pattern arrived in the Andean country at the end of 2023, causing high temperatures and droughts that led to forest fires throughout the Andean country and pushed reservoirs to their least expensive levels in decades.

The country relies heavily on hydropower for its electrical power requirements and has actually needed to import LNG to support its grid.

For the first four months of the year, Colombia imported 1.25 billion cubic meters (bcm) of the superchilled gas compared with 0.1 bcm for the very same duration in 2015, LSEG information showed.

In April, it imported a record 0.45 bcm of LNG. The U.S., the world's largest gas manufacturer, supplied 60% of the cargoes and Trinidad and Tobago the other 40%, the ship tracking data showed.

Imports of LNG have continued this month, stated LSEG's senior LNG analyst Olumida Ajayi, adding that the Pan Americas was presently releasing a freight at the country's sole terminal in Cartagena.

Professionals, nevertheless, have actually alerted Latin American countries to be on high alert as El Nino rapidly switches to La Nina, with indications of a Nina in March, April.

Colombia, meanwhile, is working to tackle its own dwindling gas reserves and is even checking out the alternative of importing the fuel from surrounding Venezuela in the middle of a freeze on new oil and gas licenses, to the irritation of market figures.