Empresa Tomza Guatemala S.A. reported that in Nicaragua the government of President Daniel Ortega illegally expropriated and confiscated the company's assets, which together amount to $4 million in investments.
The expropriation process took several years. Tomza executives explained that in 2015 they were granted the permits for the construction of a property located in the municipality of Tipitapa, department of Managua.
The Social Security Institution in Panama is putting out to tender the supply, transportation, delivery and unloading of medical gases for a period of 545 days.
Panama Government Purchase 2016-1-10-0-99-LP-219918:
"Supply, transport, delivery and unloading on site of medical gases described in the tender documents, according to the needs of the executing unit, products which will be consumed by health facilities and other places established by the procuring entity according to the regions described for a period of 545 days and the extension of the term.
The business association of the American city has established an office in Panama City in order to explore business opportunities with local businesses and the region.
The organization has over 3,600 members ranging from small and medium sized companies to those with an international presence. This is the second site the union has in Latin America, as it has presence in Mexico.
AES Panama has presented the government with a proposal to build a power generation plant and a port terminal for transferring the gas.
With an investment which would be around $350 million AES Panama is proposing building a power generation plant based on gas, which would help alleviate the power supply problems affecting the country. The plan also includes the construction of a port terminal for easy transport and storage of gas.
The Mexican government is considering constructing a pipeline and eventually a refinery to supply the region.
Miguel Hakim, Mexican Secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean, said his country is considering building a refinery and natural gas pipeline which would cross the isthmus and would be an alternative option for generating power at low cost. Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), has $2 billion to invest.
The company will sell power at 13/100 a kilowatt hour through a contract with a term from March 1, 2017 to February 29, 2036.
Prensa.com reports that "the company will sell power at 13 cents per kilowatt hour. This was the only offer received in the tender by Etesa whose parameters were criticized by business groups, after two addenda were included establishing that proposals could only be made by companies that posses a permanent or temporary license. "
The region is aiming to group together demand for natural gas in order to make the market more attractive to major companies.
According to René Castro, Minister of Environment and Energy (Minae), the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama, could open the door to greater cooperation from the Government in this area.
Castro said that Costa Rica is looking for the northern giant, which is one step ahead in its research on improving extraction and exploitation of natural gas, to grant it the status of "most favored nation" which would improve product prices for importations.
They are opposed to the tender for natural gas energy being awarded to the company NG Power, the only one to bid in the process.
"The Inter-institutional Energy Commission, comprised of six organizations, has requested that the contract not be granted and instead, a new public event be launched that includes more participants", reported Prensa.com.
Central American entrepreneurs will propose to Barack Obama the revival of a project conceived in 1996 by the Regional Energy Forum of Central America.
The aim of this initiative is to lower energy costs and increase production through this route. According to Joseph Adam Aguerri, president of the Superior Council of Private Enterprise of Nicaragua (Cosep), at the meeting of the Central American Integration System which will involve Obama, entrepreneurs will propose the project in order to make the region more competitive .
The Panama company NG Power was the only bidder in the tender to generate electricity from natural gas for 20 years at a price of 8 cents per kilowatt hour.
"The prices are pretty good. We will take the necessary steps to make a final decision for the contracts," said Fernando Marciscano CEO of the Empresa de Transmisión Eléctrica, S.A. (Etesa), while downplaying criticism of the bidding process in light of the fact that at last moment only temporarily or permanently licensed firms were allowed to participate, when the tender had originally been open," noted an article in Prensa.com .
The documents for the tender involving investments of hundreds of millions of dollars underwent significant changes at the last minute.
"This is one of the largest businesses in the energy industry in Panama: a contract that involves the construction of a plant which may require an investment of over one billion dollars, and through which energy will be provided for the period from March 2017 to February 2036," reported Prensa.com.
The tender in Panama for electricity generation from natural gas, limits participation to companies who already have operating permits.
The tender prepared by the Empresa de Transmisión de Energía, S.A. (Etesa) for contracting power and energy exclusively from new generation plants based on natural gas in the period from March 1, 2017 to February 29, 2036, contains a number of changes, which according to business people from the generation sector, make it almost impossible for most of the companies who originally acquired the tender conditions to participation in.