The head of Portugal's gas and electricity provider REN said Sunday his company has received positive interest from gas companies in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to export natural gas to Portugal.

Rui Cartaxo, president of Redes de Energia Nacional (RENE.LB), also said on the sidelines of a forum here that REN is "prepared as of this year" to go undergo privatization, which involves the government selling down its 51% stake in the company. He, however, noted that it's a question now of the government giving a green light to the privatization process. He didn't elaborate on how it would happen.

Portugal announced a privatization program last year that involves the sale of government stakes in several companies including REN, energy company Galp Energia SGPS SA (GALP.LB) and power utility Energias de Portugal SA (EDP.LB). The proceeds are expected to be used to help lower public debt.

With regards liquified natural gas, Cartaxo said that Qatari and Abu Dhabi natural gas companies have both expressed interest in utilizing the additional LNG regassification capacity that REN is adding to its existing LNG regassification plant in Portugal.

"We have one of the largest terminals on the Atlantic coast...(that's) open to third parties," he said.

"The more we use our terminal," the more we lower our costs, he added.

REN is spending EUR200 million to expand its Sines LNG regassification terminal in Portugal to process 9 billion cubic meters of gas annually, up from 6 billion cubic meters annually, Cartaxo said. He expects the new capacity to be completed in 2012.

-By Alex MacDonald, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)7776 200 924, alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
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