Prumo Logistica, controlled by US-based energy and infrastructure fund EIG Global Energy Partners, made a decisive move into Brazil's liquefied natural gas sector last year by acquiring a power purchasing agreement (PPA) that was originally won by Bolegnesi Energia.

Bolognesi’s plan was to build a thermal electric plant, called Novo Tempo, with 1.3 gigawatts of generation fed though a floating storage and regasification unit, but the project became distressed.

Prumo’s Gas Natual Acu (GNA) subsidiary took over the Novo Tempo project and received regulatory approval to re-locate to the company’s flagship Port of Acu industrial complex.

The approval includes the the transfer of the project's 37 flexible PPAs, dating back to a 2014 power auction.

German industrial group Siemens has agreed to acquire a 33% stake in the GNA 1 project, acting as main engineering, procurement and construction contractor and suppling power generation turbines and transmission equipment.

A unit of UK supermajor BP took a 30% stake in the GNA joint venture and will supply the LNG.

Prumo followed this up by winning another 25 PPAs for a total 1.5 gigawatts, valid for 25 years and 50% interruptible.

The second GNA power plant will be able to generate 1.7 GW per annum and is due to be installed by 2023.

With the clock ticking on the former Bolognesi project, the GNA partners have moved swiftly into the construction of the thermal electric plants and are poised to award a contract for an FSRU with initial capacity for 14 million cubic metres per day, but set to double.

Prumo’s longer term plans point to development of a gas hub at Port of Acua, offering a landing base for an offshore natural gas pipeline from the pre-salt fields, on-site industrial development and connection into the trunkline systems that connect cities along Brazil’s coast.

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Prumo steps in to Brazil's LNG sector