Panama Energy Information

Panama Energy Research

- Panama's Energy & Climate Policy Framework: Panama aims for 1.7GW distributed renewables by 2030, 30% solar/wind capacity by 2050, and 11% GHG reduction by 2035.

- Panama's Energy Companies: Three major firms dominate Panama’s electricity sector: AES, Gatun, and Enel generate ~60% of power, while Naturgy controls two of three distribution companies.

- Panama's Energy Supply & Demand: Panama’s energy mix shifted to 73% renewables in 2024, reducing oil reliance. All oil products are imported. Electricity capacity reached 5.1 GW, with gas and renewables expanding.

- Panama's Energy Use & Price by Sector: Oil dominates final energy use (64%), with buildings and transport each consuming 41%. Electricity prices stable in industry; fuel prices fell in transport.

- Panama's Issues & Prospects: Panama aims to diversify energy mix with wind, solar, and gas projects by 2039, despite delays in key infrastructure.

Panama Total Energy Production & Consumption

Total energy consumption dipped by 7% in 2024 to 4.6 Mtoe after a rapid growth since 2021 (6%/year peak). It grew before by around 4%/year from 2010 to 2019; after a 37% drop in 2020 it rebounded by 41% in 2021, driven by very high economic growth. Consumption per capita is low, at 1 toe in 2024, slightly under the Latin America average (1.4 toe). Oil covered 68% of primary energy consumption in 2024 (-13 pp since 2010), followed by hydropower (14%, +4 pp), gas (8%, +8 pp), biomass (7%, -2 pp), wind and solar (3%).

Graph: Primary Consumption Trends by Energy Source

Source: Panama energy report

Interactive Chart Panama Total Energy Production & Consumption

Source: Global Energy & CO₂ data

Panama Oil Production & Consumption

Panama imports all its oil products (3.6 Mt in 2024), as the production of oil products ceased in 2003 when the refinery was transformed into an import terminal.

Under the terms of the treaty signed in 1977, the Panama Canal came under Panamanian sovereignty in 1999. In 1982, in order to cope with the increase in traffic, the country commissioned the 200 kb/d Trans Panama pipeline (PetroTerminal of Panama S.A.), which runs 131 km through the Panamanian Isthmus.

Source: Panama energy report

Interactive Chart Panama Crude Oil Production & Consumption

Source: Global Energy & CO₂ data

Interactive Chart Panama Refined Oil Products Production & Consumption

Source: Global Energy & CO₂ data

Panama Natural Gas Production & Consumption

Panama started to import natural gas as LNG in 2018, following the commissioning of the Costa Norte LNG import terminal, with a capacity of 2 bcm/year. In 2024, the country imported 0.6 bcm from the United States. AES's subsidiary Gas Natural Atlántico will import up to 0.4 Mt/year of LNG from Engie over 2018-2027.

All the gas is consumed in the power sector.

Graph: Gas Production & Consumption

Source: Panama energy report

Interactive Chart Panama Gas Production & Consumption

Source: Global Energy & CO₂ data

Panama Coal and Lignite Production & Consumption

Panama does not produce coal and used to import coal (between 87 kt and 965 kt between 2011 and 2023) for a coal-fired power plant located at a copper mine. Since the power plant was mothballed in 2024, coal imports and consumption have fallen to zero.

Graph: Coal Production & Consumption

Source: Panama energy report

Interactive Chart Panama Coal and Lignite Production & Consumption

Source: Global Energy & CO₂ data

Panama Renewable in % Electricity Production

The second NDC (2024) targets 1.7 GW of distributed renewables by 2030 (solar and wind, large hydro excluded), which should cover 20% of energy consumption. The NDC 3.0 (November 2025) does not include any renewable target but estimates that non-conventional renewables should account for 30% of the installed capacity in 2050.

Source: Panama energy report

Interactive Chart Panama Share of Renewables in Electricity Production (incl hydro)

Source: Global Energy & CO₂ data

Panama GHG emissions and CO₂ emissions

The second NDC (2024) did not include a quantitative objective of reductions in total GHG emissions. It aims to cut total emissions from the energy sector by at least 11.5% by 2030 and by at least 24% by 2050 compared to a BaU scenario, representing up to 10 MtCO2eq of avoided emissions over 2022-2030 and 60 MtCO2eq over 2022-2050.

Source: Panama energy report

Interactive Chart Panama CO₂ emissions

Source: Global Energy & CO₂ data