OREANDA-NEWS. A recovery in Colombia's hydroelectric reservoir levels has reduced the need for imported LNG so far to just one spot cargo to be delivered by third quarter 2017.

A group of thermal generators, known as Grupo Térmico, is preparing to open a tender for at least one 130,000–160,000m3 cargo for delivery in the second or third quarter, according to the group's purchasing unit Calamari LNG.

Calamari received various offers for a first-half 2017 cargo in an initial commercial tender shortly after a regasification terminal was inaugurated late last year, but scrapped the process. "We canceled the tender at the end of December because the offers didn't comply with the conditions we set," a senior Calamari executive told Argus.

Terminal operator Sociedad Portuaria El Cayao (Spec) inaugurated the 400mn ft3/d (4bn m3/yr) LNG terminal on 2 December 2016 with a commissioning cargo supplied in November by Japan's Mitsui.

In early November, Norwegian Hoegh delivered the 170,000m3 Hoegh Grace floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU).

"We're looking to open a second tender around the end of February. Our consumption depends on hydroelectric patterns, which have been atypical so far… and the inventory that we have left over from the (terminal operator Spec) purchase has been sufficient for us so far," the executive said.

The on-and-off tender highlights Colombia's sharply fluctuating need for LNG supply.

Rainfall in recent months has rapidly replenished hydroelectric reservoirs that had been sapped by an El Niño-driven drought in early 2016.

Hydroelectric plants accounted for 79.4pc of generation in December 2016, compared with 50.9pc in December 2015, according to grid operator XM, a subsidiary of transmission firm Isa.