LNG import capacity in the European Union (EU) and the UK will expand by 34%, or 6.8 bill cu ft per day, by 2024, compared with 2021.
This was the conclusion that the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) came to after analysing data from the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL) and other sources.
Import or regasification expansion capacity will total 5.3 bill cu ft per day by the end of next year and grow further by an additional 1.5 bill by the end of 2024.
LNG regasification capacity in the EU27 and the UK remained relatively stable and had expanded modestly in the last 10 years, by 2.8 bill cu ft per day (16%), from 17.5 bill in 2012 to 20.2 bill by the end of 2021, according to GIIGNL data.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022 and the reduction in natural gas pipeline imports from Russia that followed, European countries have reactivated development of previously dormant regasification projects and have started to develop new ones.
Many of the new European regasification projects can be developed relatively quickly by chartering FSRUs and by building pipelines to transport regasified natural gas to connecting pipelines onshore.
Other regasification projects will expand capacity at their existing onshore terminals and implement upgrades to increase the existing terminals' throughput.
Thus far this year, about 1.7 bill cu ft per day of the new and expanded LNG regasification capacity has been added in the Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Italy, and Germany. The new EemsEnergy terminal in the Netherlands (0.8 bill cu ft capacity) consists of two FSRUs and received its first import cargo in September, 2022.
A new FSRU terminal at Wilhelmshaven in Germany (0.7 bill cu ft capacity) was completed last month.
The EIA outlined the regasification terminals currently under construction in seven EU countries, which could add an additional 3.5 bill cu ft per day of new capacity by the end of 2023 -
• Germany is developing three FSRU terminal sites, which will in total add 1.4 bill cu ft of regasification capacity at Lubmin, Brunsbüttel, and Wilhelmshaven. Two terminals (at Lubmin and Brunsbüttel) are expected to start operations this winter, and the second terminal at Wilhelmshaven is expected online in 2023.
• Poland will expand capacity its existing LNG regasification terminal at Świnoujście by 0.2 bill cu ft per day to reach a total capacity of 0.8 bill by December, 2023.
• France will add 0.4 bill cu ft of regasification capacity using the FSRU ‘Cape Anne’ at Le Havre, which is expected to come online in the Autumn of 2023.
• Finland and Estonia are jointly developing an FSRU terminal at the Finnish port of Inkoo, which will add 0.5 bill cu ft per day capacity and is expected to come online this winter.
• Italy is developing an FSRU terminal near Piombino, which will add 0.5 bill cu ft capacity and will likely come online in spring 2023.
• Greece will also bring online an FSRU at Alexandroupolis by the end of 2023, with 0.5 bill cu ft per day of regasification capacity.
