LNG

Enagás, the Spanish gas grid and terminals operator, said the El Musel liquefied natural gas re-loading facility in Northwest Spain designated to supply the European Union has received its first cargo that was loaded on the US Gulf Coast.

Enagás has re-activated the existing El Musel terminal on the Bay of Biscay to meet growing LNG needs in the EU after the closure of Russian pipeline gas supplies and a commissioning cargo was delivered by the 174,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Cool Racer”.

Shipping data showed that the cargo had been lifted from the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana on June 16. 

The Spanish terminal in the Port of Gijón will contribute up to 8 billion cubic metres of additional LNG to Europe’s supply when commercial operations start.

“The unloading of this first LNG vessel is a necessary prior step, from a technical point of view, before the final start-up as a logistics plant,” said Enagás.

Enagás has already conducted the second phase of a capacity allocation process, or open season, for El Musel after interest was expressed by 16 trading companies.

The binding phase just closed on June 30 after receiving binding offers from marketers for the capacity offered by the terminal.

Cool-down process

“As part of the usual technical process in this type of start-up operation, the initial cold start-up with liquid nitrogen of the infrastructure has already been carried out, prior to the arrival of the ship,” said Enagás.

“The LNG from the ship gradually replaces the inert gas (nitrogen) inside the tanks. With this, a progressive cooling of the tanks occurs until reaching cryogenic temperatures in which LNG can be stored at minus-160ºC,” Enagás explained.

The aim of the logistical use of the El Musel facility is to contribute energy supply to the EU because of the end of dependence on Russian pipeline natural gas after the events such as sanctions and retaliatory pipeline shutdowns that followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

El Musel will specialise in the unloading of LNG carriers from various producing countries and the rapid re-loading of ships for different European destinations.

The terminal berthing can accommodate the largest vessels and it has two storage tanks each with capacity of 150,000 cubic metres.

The re-opening of El Musel is part of the Spanish Government’s “More Energy Security Plan” and will add to Spain’s role as an energy hub for Europe as the nation also receives pipeline gas imports from Algeria.

Enagás operates six other LNG regasification terminals on mainland Spain.

It owns five of those terminals at Barcelona in the northeast, at Cartagena in the southeast, at Sagunto in the east of Spain, at Huelva in the southwest as well as the El Musel facility.

Enagás additionally holds a 50 percent stake at another northwest facility serving the northwest port of Bilbao and owns two small regasification terminals in the Canary Islands.

Enagás, the Spanish gas grid and LNG terminals operator, has held an event for marketers and the regulatory authorities at its headquarters in Madrid where it revealed plans to launch an open season on March 6 for logistics services at the re-activated El Musel import terminal in Northwest Spain on the Bay of Biscay.

Enagás, the Spanish gas grid and LNG terminals operator, has acquired the Reganosa gas pipeline network in Northern Spain while Reganosa is becoming a 25 percent shareholder in the El Musel regasification and import terminal on the Bay of Biscay previously 100-percent owned by Enagás.