SANTIAGO -(Dow Jones)- GNL Quintero, in central Chile and one of the nation's two liquefied natural gas regasification terminals, already proved its value this winter as peak output matched the maximum amount of gas central Chile used to import from Argentina through two cross-border pipelines, the company's chief Antonio Bacigalupo said Thursday. Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, was developed as an energy source during former President Michelle Bachelet's term, in an effort to diversify the country's energy matrix and increase its security, after Argentina sharply reduced its natural gas exports to Chile starting in the mid-2000s and a 2008 drought severely curtailed hydroelectric production. "On our busiest days we're already supplying the system with as much natural gas as used to be brought into Chile at the height of our imports from Argentina," Bacigalupo told reporters on the sidelines of an energy seminar. GNL Quintero, which supplied customers on the central SIC grid, has a maximum capacity of 10 million cubic meters a day, or the equivalent of some 2,300 megawatts once converted. The SIC grid supplies power to over 90% of Chile's population and covers an area from northern Tal Tal to the southern island of Chiloe. Meanwhile, earlier this year, Chile's state oil and gas company, Empresa Nacional de Petroleo SA, said it's planning to transport LNG to its Bio Bio refinery from GNL Quintero, in which it holds a 20% stake. GNL Quintero's Bacigalupo said his company is looking for more business opportunities using the option of transporting LNG, adding that capacity could be dramatically increased with minor investments. "If need be and we see there is sufficient demand, we could practically double our capacity to some 20 million cubic meters a day with minor investments," he said. In northern Chile, meanwhile, the GNL Mejillones, a joint venture between Chilean state copper mining company Corporacion Nacional del Cobre, or Codelco, and France's GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR), supplies customers on the SING grid, which is home to the vast majority of the nation's bustling copper mining industry. Chile produces just over a third of the globe's copper supply. GNL Mejillones helped secure energy supply on the SING grid in recent weeks as power generator AES Gener SA's (AESZF, GENER.SN) 642-megawatt natural gas plant in neighboring northern Argentina has cut off supply to Chile to cover increased demand in Argentina. -By Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-715-8929; anthony.esposito@dowjones.com
