The Dominican Republic’s Manzanillo LNG-to-power project has selected global law firm White & Case to advise lead arrangers and joint structuring agents Citibank and JPMorgan Chase on the $900 mn project, the law firm announced on August 18.

The project will involve the design, development, construction, operation and maintenance of two combined-cycle thermal power plants. The two power plants will each have an installed capacity of 420 MW.

Additionally, the project will include a jetty and related infrastructure for a floating storage and regasification unit and will also feature transmission infrastructure to inject electricity into the Dominican Republic’s grid.

Santo Domingo has earmarked the project as a key strategic investment. The Caribbean country faces challenges in energy procurement and consequently it is leaning heavily into floating storage and regasification units, which offer the country fast deployment and scalability.

In April 2025, the Dominican Republic signed a 15-year deal for the supply of 400,000 tonnes per year (tpy) of super-chilled fuel from French supermajor TotalEnergies. The deal is set to begin in mid-2027 with the price indexed to Henry Hub.

The Dominican Republic will use the LNG to power a 470-MW combined-cycle power plant, which is under construction near the town of Boca Chica, about 25 km east of Santo Domingo.

Additionally, in May 2025, the Caribbean country inked a three-year charter deal with US firm New Fortress Energy for Energos Freeze, a floating storage and regasification unit, which began operations in September 2025. The Energos Freeze has a capacity of 125,000 cubic metres.

LNG is central to the Dominican Republic’s decarbonization plan as the country seeks to reduce its dependance on coal and fuel use to lower-carbon gases such as natural gas.

In July, the Dominican Republic imported 271.6 mn cubic metres of LNG.