Page 5 - GLNG Week 19 2022

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

will gain access to another source of non-Russian position an FSRU at Le Havre.
gas supply in addition to the Klaipeda LNG ter- In its ambition to become the main hub for
minal in Lithuania. gas supply in Southeast Europe, Greece has
The long-delayed 4 bcm per year Tallinn plans for four more FSRUs to add to its existing
LNG project is still officially planned, but there onshore Revithoussa facility. These include the
have been no updates to this scheme in years. 5.5 bcm per year Alexandroupolis LNG project
Latvia is looking to join its Baltic neighbours led by Gastrade, where an FID was taken earlier
in the LNG import market with the 1.5 bcm per this year. Imports are scheduled to start there in
year Skulte LNG terminal, due online in 2023. 2023.
Local media reported in March that US and Then there is Thrace LNG (5.5 bcm per year),
Middle East investors were interested in the Argo FSRU (5.2 bcm per year) and Dioriga Gas
project. FSRU (2.5 bcm per year), which are all at the
Last on the list is Albania, which has pro- pre-FID stage. Greece will be able to spread this
posed building a LNG terminal in Vlora, with gas around the greater region with the help of
support from US partners ExxonMobil and an interconnector to Bulgaria that is due to start
Excelerate Energy. The partners agreed to study flowing later this year, and other cross-border
the plan last year, as well as evaluate the prospect links across the area.
of recommissioning and potentially expanding Nearby, Croatia launched its 6.75 bcm per
the 100-MW Vlora power plant, which was built year Krk LNG terminal at the start of 2021, and
in 2009 to run on gas as well as coal but has been has proposed adding extra capacity before the
left idle because of a design fault. As it stands, end of the decade. Cyprus is awaiting the com-
Albania lacks a national gas grid, but the pro- pletion of the 2.55 bcm per year Vasiliko LNG
ject’s supporters say the country could serve as terminal in 2023, although this plant may be
a gateway from LNG supply into the Balkans. converted to export gas if Croatia’s offshore gas
The region is home to several countries that are potential is exploited.
virtually entirely dependent on Russia for their After years of resisting the EU’s phase-out
gas supply, including Bosnia, Serbia and North of coal-fired power, Poland embraced natural
Macedonia. gas several years ago, but simultaneously began
efforts to phase out Russian gas imports com-
Expanding existing markets pletely by the end of 2022, when its long-term
Many countries in Europe that already bring supply contract with Gazprom is due to expire.
LNG ashore are looking to expand their existing Poland may have severed energy ties with Rus-
terminals and add new ones. First and foremost sia sooner than it anticipated, after Gazprom’s
there is Italy, which wants to add two 5 bcm move to halt supply to the country in late April
per year FSRUs in 2023, build a 8 bcm per year in reponse to Warsaw refusing to comply with
onshore plant on Sicily, and expand its Adriatic the Kremlin’s decree on ruble payments for gas.
LNG terminal by 0.5 bcm per year by 2024. In any case, gas flow was just launched through
Italy is one of the largest gas markets in a new link between Poland and Lithuania, and
Europe, and while its supply is relatively well Baltic Pipe will start bringing Norwegian gas to
diversified already, with access to Azeri and Poland this autumn, if the schedule is kept.
North African pipeline supply in addition to However, LNG also plays a role in Poland’s
Russian gas and LNG, the market’s sheer size plan to replace Russian gas. It plans to expand the
means there is ample work to do to wean the 5.5 bcm per year Swinoujscie LNG terminal by a
country off Gazprom’s shipments. Belgium further 2.1 bcm per year by 2023, and it intends
plans to add 3.9 bcm per year of regasification to construct a second, 6.1 bcm per year regasi-
capacity at its Zeebrugge terminal by 2024, and fication facility in Gdansk two years after that.
a further 1.8 bcm annually two years later. The The UK, meanwhile, is set to expand the Isle
Netherlands similarly wants to expand its Gate of Grain LNG terminal in southern England by
terminal by 1.5 bcm and 2.5 bcm per year in 2024 5 bcm per year by 2025. But given that its existing
and 2026 respectively. France, meanwhile, wants LNG terminals are underutilised, this is the only
to add 3.5 bcm per year of capacity between 2022 expansion in the country’s regasification capac-
and 2030 at the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal, and ity that is on the cards. ™

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