Above: Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica will make every effort to complete the country’s Liquefied Natural Gas project by 2014, according to Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell.

Under the plan, LNG would be supplied to the government, which would undertake construction of an LNG Floating Storage and Re-gasification Terminal.

“We know that LNG is a relatively clean, environmentally-friendly option that provides tremendous opportunity for efficiency improvement and cost reduction,” Paulwell said. “In this regard, the government is committed to implementing the LNG project, and we are doing everything to ensure that the project is properly structured commercially, and that the appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks are in place.”

The previous administration’s LNG Steering Committee has been preserved, with the exception of two changed members, he said.

While the bid process is still ongoing, the Minister said it would not “significantly disrupt ” plans to have LNG-powered plants operating in Jamaica by 2014.

“We are making every effort to ensure that the timeline for completion of the new plants and the infrastructure are synchronized with the timeline for completion of the delivery of LNG,” he said.

The LNG project had been the subject of some controversy in 2011, following questions over the award of the LNG contact to the Exmar Consortium.

The country’s Contractor General had suggested a “conspiratorial relationship” in the award between Exmar and two government officials.

No criminal charges were filed, however.