Page 6 - EurOil Week 18 2021

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

European LNG import, bunkering

capacity continues to grow

Europe continues to add to its LNG import capacity, and efforts to step up
bunkering of the super-chilled fuel are also on the rise

EUROPE EUROPEAN LNG import capacity is grow- March the arrival of vessels to the terminal has
ing, with various projects underway across stabilised,” he added.
WHAT: a number of countries in a continuation of MET Croatia has booked overall capacity of
Europe continues a trend that has already been playing out 2.67 bcm at the Krk LNG terminal, split over a
efforts to expand its for some time. Additionally, various moves seven-year period, and the cargo from Belgium
regasification and LNG are being made to add new LNG bunkering was its first to arrive.
bunkering capacity. infrastructure. Nearby countries will also soon be able to
This comes amid strong demand for natural benefit from additional liquefaction capacity.
WHY: gas – certainly in the short term, with European One of the more prominent projects currently
Natural gas is buyers replenishing stocks that were depleted under development is Greece’s Alexandroupolis
increasingly in favour during the winter, but also in the medium term, LNG, which will see a floating storage and regas-
thanks to its credentials with gas widely considered a cleaner option ification unit (FSRU) installed in the Aegean Sea
as a cleaner energy than coal in particular. and brought online by 2023. The terminal will
source. In the long term, though, there is consid- have a capacity of 4.5mn tpy.
erably more uncertainty over the prospects Meanwhile, a small-scale import terminal is
WHAT NEXT: for gas demand given the European Union’s approaching start-up on the Italian island of
There are more questions ambitious targets to eventually eliminate green- Sardinia. The Higas terminal, which is located
over long-term LNG house gas (GHG) emissions on a net basis. The at the port of Oristano, will be able to receive
demand, but numerous gas industry continues to argue that the fuel LNG vessels of up to 20,000 cubic metres in
European buyers have will be needed for decades to come, given the capacity. The facility will also include two LNG
long-term contracts. intermittency issues associated with renewable truck-loading bays and will be capable of load-
energy and the high costs of decarbonisation. ing around 8,000 LNG trucks per year.
And given that numerous European buyers have The terminal is set to enter service this month.
long-term contracts to purchase LNG, it seems
likely that volumes will continue to flow to the Bunkering push
continent for some time yet. At the same time as construction continues on
these terminals – and others – new LNG bun-
New developments kering projects and milestones are also being In the long term,
European LNG import capacity has already reported.
increased this year thanks to the start-up of the Earlier, this week, France’s Total said it had though, there
Krk floating LNG (FLNG) terminal in Croatia in completed the first ship-to-containership LNG is considerably
January. The facility has a capacity of 2.6bn cubic bunkering operation in the country. The oper-
metres per year, or 1.9mn tonnes per year (tpy), ation involved the world’s largest LNG bun- more uncertainty
and is reported to have imported five cargoes of ker vessel, Total’s Gas Agility, which refuelled
LNG to date – though it is worth noting that the the world’s largest containership powered by over the
most recent of these came from within Europe, LNG, the CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE, with
having been loaded in Belgium. around 16,400 cubic metres of the super-chilled prospects for gas
Nonetheless, the terminal’s start-up has fuel. demand.
opened up another route for gas volumes to Total said in a statement that this was the
reach South-Eastern Europe and volumes are Dunkerque LNG terminal’s first loading of a
expected to pick up after a somewhat erratic small-scale LNG vessel and the Terminal des
start. Flandres’ first LNG bunkering operation with
“Since the terminal started in January 2021, it simultaneous cargo operations.
has been a rather turbulent beginning of opera- “Key investments, critical to enable this oper-
tions, with pricing anomalies and arbitrary sit- ation, were made within the framework of this
uations on the global scale and changes to the project to boost the Dunkerque LNG terminal’s
delivery schedule locally at the terminal,” MET capabilities in offering small-scale LNG ser-
Croatia Energy Trade’s CEO, Mario Matković, vices,” the company stated. “Amongst various
was quoted as saying last week. “However, since developments, an existing terminal jetty was

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 18 06•May•2021