NFEnergía, a subsidiary of New Fortress Energy (NFE), and the port's pilots are close to an agreement that would let the barge Amur River dock at the NFEnergía pier in San Juan Bay to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power-grid generating units, according to the company's legal defense after an emergency hearing before Judge Silvia Carreño Coll. Acevedo Hernández made the announcement at the end of the hearing, which the judge convened on an emergency basis.
At the hearing it was reported that, since September 19, the pilots agreed to carry out the maneuvers to bring the vessel to the pier where the LNG terminal is located, provided three conditions are met. Two of those conditions had already been accepted by NFE: the vessel's movement must not exceed 10 knots, and the port captain's authorization is required.
The third demand is the use of support tugboats while the Amur River remains at the pier, a period of two to three weeks, supplying LNG to units 5 and 6 of the San Juan plant and to several generating plants in Palo Seco. NFE recently signaled it would accede to that requirement. The sticking point in the negotiation had been who should pay for the tugboats.
The pilots argued the cost falls to NFE, since the company is the one that would create the dangerous conditions at the pier.