Page 11 - GLNG Week 21 2022

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Slovenia’s bid for capacity at Krk fails

TERMINALS THE bid by Slovenia’s largest gas wholesaler said. Before the April general election, officials
Geoplin to apply in an open call for an increased from the government led by outgoing PM Janez
capacity of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Jansa talked of agreements on Croatia’s assistance
terminal on the Croatian island of Krk has failed, in resolving possible problems with the supply
media reported on May 19. of gas to Slovenia. Now, in the coming months,
This will be a major blow to Slovenia’s plans to Geoplin will have to find alternative gas supply
overcome a possible energy crisis, which could routes to protect itself against possible supply
erupt next autumn if the war in Ukraine contin- disruptions from Russia.
ues and sanctions against Russia are tightened. Slovenian Infrastructure Minister Jernej
Slovenia is looking for ways to diversify its Vrtovec said in April, after he visited the LNG
gas supplies to reduce its dependence on Russian terminal on Krk, where he met with the Croa-
gas, following the war in Ukraine. tian Energy Minister Tomislav Coric, that Cro-
Despite assurances that Slovenia got from atia will publish a call for booking the increased
Croatia, the Croatian partner of Russian Gaz- capacity of the Krk LNG terminal to approxi-
prom, Prvo Plinarsko Drustvo (PPD), won mately 300mn cubic metres per year and Slove-
the deal. Slovenian web portal Necenzurirano nia is interested in leasing this.
reported that Geoplin cannot bring gas from 2.6bn cubic metres of gas pass through the
Asian or African countries via Krk, as the termi- Krk terminal per year. These capacities have been
nal will be fully occupied until 2027. leased by five companies – Croatia’s Ina, Hrvat-
Geoplin can only do this if it chooses an inter- ska elektroprivreda and PPD, as well as Hungar-
mediary that already has leased capacity on Krk, ian state company MVM and the Swiss company
in this case Croatia’s PPD, but this would make MET, which is closely linked to Hungarian Prime
the price of gas much more expensive, the article Minister Viktor Orban’s circle.™

Regas rates at Grain LNG reach record

levels as European demand soars

PERFORMANCE THE Grain LNG terminal in the UK posted Storage capacity is set to expand after Grain
record gas send-out levels in April, as high LNG signed a contract with Qatar Terminal
demand for gas from Europe pushed utilisation Limited in 2020 to increase storage to 1.2mn
rates up, with LNG tankers arriving from eight cubic metres mid July 2025, while regasification
new countries since January. send-out will rise to 800GWh per day.
The terminal saw its highest ever utilisa- As part of the expansion project, Grain will
tion rate in April, sending out an average of be commissioning a second cryogenic unloading
431GWh per day, higher than the previous high line – and will be the only terminal in Europe
of 412.2GWh in April 2021. able to perform simultaneous unloads.
The figure represents 67% of the plant’s total All the capacity at the terminal is currently
utilisation and equates to approximately 13% of fully contracted with capacity becoming availa-
the UK’s total gas demand. ble from the end of 2028. Grain LNG intends to
However, most of this gas is then re-exported launch an Open Season to market this capacity
via pipeline to the European gas network, as in the near future.
countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Expansion at Grain LNG is just one of a num-
France and Germany see, new sources of gas as ber announced across Europe in recent months
imports from Russia fall because of the war in in the wake of the war in Ukraine and Europe’s
Ukraine. subsequent scramble for new sources of gas.
“Current UK gas demand is about average for A number of pre-invasion projects that once
this time of year however, the impact of a freeze were considered to have a questionable eco-
on Russian gas is being felt across Europe, and nomic case are now moving forward swiftly.
as a result we are seeing increased LNG deliver- wOnce considered a backwater in terms of
ies,” said Importation Terminal Manager Simon LNG market growth prospects, Europe is now
Culkin. embracing the supercooled gas like never before
Grain LNG is of strategic national impor- in its push to end all use of Russian gas. Indeed,
tance to UK, and also offers direct access to the data published by Gas Infrastructure Europe
UK’s NBP gas trading hubs. (GIE) in late April indicates that Europe’s regas-
The site has the largest terminal in Europe ification capacity will rise by 102.5bn cubic
and eighth largest in the world by tank capacity. metres per year to 361.8 bcm per year by 2026.™

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