LNG

Leading European Union LNG import terminal owner and grid operator, Enagás of Spain, has signed a firm agreement in Albania to help the Balkan nation’s natural gas company AlbGaz develop its markets and infrastructure.

Enagás executives and Spanish local and government officials have visited the Spanish Gijón regasification terminal at El Musel in the Asturias region of northwest Spain and have proposed the facility as an LNG hub for re-exporting cargoes into the European Union.

After their visit and talks on July 7, the Spanish issued a statement saying that the El Musel terminal could contribute up to 8 billion cubic metres per annum of LNG deliveries and contribute to the EU’s energy security.

Present at the El Musel talks were Spain’s Vice President and Minister for Energy and Ecology, Teresa Ribera, the President of the Asturias region, Adrián Barbón, the Mayor of Gijón, Ana González, and the Chief Executive of Enagás, Arturo Gonzalo.

Enagás has capacity at six LNG regasification terminals in Spain. It owns five terminals at Barcelona in the northeast, at Cartagena in the southeast, at Sagunto in the east of Spain, at Huelva in the southwest and at the El Musel facility.

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

The statement went on to explain that logistical use of the El Musel facility would contribute energy supply in Europe because of the reducing dependence on Russian pipeline natural gas.

“The terminal allows the unloading of LNG carriers from various producing countries and the rapid re-loading of ships for different European destinations,” they explained.

Storage and berths

The El Musel facility has a storage capacity of 300,000 cubic metres in two tanks each with 150,000 cubic metres of capacity.

It also has docking and unloading facilities designed for the largest LNG carriers such as the Qatari Q-Max vessels of 266,000 cubic metres capacity.

Enagás disclosed after the meeting at El Musel that it had obtained the Administrative Authorization for El Musel’s use as a hub, a key step in starting up the Asturian terminal, and added that it could be operational for logistics use within a period of between six and eight months.

“The facility can contribute to the security of energy supply in Europe, with the capacity to unload and load 100 LNG ships per year,” said the statement.

This authorization will follow soon after a favourable report from Spain’s National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC), clearing the way for the approval of the Environmental Impact Statement (DIA) for the terminal and its support facilities.

El Musel will have a special status so that it can be used for LNG logistical services with a start-up order from the Energy Ministry and with Enagás in charge of the technical operations.

“Once this process is finished, the plant could be operational for logistical use in a period of between six and eight months,” explained Enagás CEO Gonzalo.

“At the Gijón terminal they can unload and load more than 100 LNG ships per year, which represents a contribution of up to 8 Bcm,” added Gonzalo.

May 16 (LNGJ) – At least three LNG cargoes were being unloaded at Spanish ports this week. The 167,400 cubic metres capacity carrier “Methane Mickie Harper” was discharging a cargo from Peru on May 16 at the Bilbao terminal, according to shipping data. The 173,400 cubic metres capacity vessel “Ribera Duero Knutsen” was also scheduled to berth at Bilbao with a cargo from the US Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana and a third vessel, the 174,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “British Sponsor”, was heading for either Cartagena or Barcelona with a shipment from the US Cove Point plant in Maryland.

Bureau Veritas, the French maritime classification society, has taken delivery into its class portfolio of the LNG-powered newbuild cruise ferry “Salamanca” constructed for France’s Brittany Ferries in the Chinese Jinling shipyard.

The LNG-fuelled vessel will be able to carry more than 1,000m passengers and be operated by Brittany Ferries on its route between Portsmouth in the UK and the port os Bilbao and Santander in Northern Spain.

The “Salamanca” is the second “E-Flexer” class ferry to enter service with Brittany Ferries as part of its commitment to introduce cleaner and more efficient ships to its fleet in the next five years.

After its sister ship, “Galicia”, joined the fleet in December 2020, “Salamanca” will enter service in March 2022 and will be the first to be fuelled by LNG.

Brittany Ferries started life in 1972 as a freight-only service sailing from Roscoff in Brittany to Plymouth in the South of England with fresh vegetables such as cargoes of artichokes and cauliflowers to please the British palate.

Since then the company developed its “Atlantic Arc” ferry business linking France, the UK, Spain and Ireland.

Analysts noted that it has been a great success in reducing motorway traffic from tourists from the UK who can cut out France in travelling south to Spain and Portugal.

Brittany Ferries said that with a length of 214.5 metres, the “Salamanca” was designed with efficiency and the environment in mind.

The vessel is equipped with twin 12V46DF (dual-fuelled) engines from Finland's Wärtsilä.

The ferry will be supplied with LNG in the ports of Bilbao and Santander, enabling round trips between Spain and Portsmouth.

More LNG vessels

Brittany Ferries plans to deploy three more LNG-fuelled vessels in the coming years with the “Santoña” joining the fleet in 2023 on the The company added that the Portsmouth-Santander-Bilbao route, and two hybrid LNG-electric ships will enter service between France and the UK in time for the 2025 season.

“Renewing our fleet stands as one of the pillars of Brittany Ferries’ recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Arnaud Le Poulichet, Technical Director at Brittany Ferries.

“It goes hand-in-hand with sustainability, and will see the introduction of a range of cleaner vessels that will enable us to reduce our environmental footprint and deliver on our sustainability targets,” stated Le Poulichet.

Bruno Dabouis, Vice President Southern Europe, North Africa and North America at Bureau Veritas Marine and Offshore said BV has been involved in LNG propulsion and bunkering from the very start.

“We are proud to partner with Brittany Ferries as an environmental frontrunner, and we are looking forward to supporting ‘Salamanca’ and its operational life on the route across the Bay of Biscay from the UK to Spain, the longest Brittany Ferries route,” added Dabouis.

July 27 (LNGJ) - Enagás, the Spanish gas grid and LNG terminals operator as well as a shareholder in the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), posted first-half net profits of €213.1 million ($251.2M), with greater contributions from subsidiaries while total demand for natural gas in Spain increased by 6.3 percent in the first six months of 2021.

   The company said that the contribution to earnings from the US Tallgrass Energy pipelines unit and the TAP represented 40.4 percent of the total. Enagás said that since being commissioned at the end of 2020, the TAP pipeline that links Turkey with Italy through Greece and Albania had delivered 3 billion cubic metres of gas to customers through the end of June 2021.

Naturgy Group of Spain, the utility with LNG deliveries from both the US and Russia, has confirmed with Algerian oil and gas company Sonatrach that the expansion project on the Medgaz natural gas pipeline from Algeria to Spain would start operations in the fourth quarter of 2021.

June 22 (LNGJ) - The European natural gas and LNG benchmark price, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility, increased to a 2021 high of $10.30 per million British thermal units as cargoes headed for Spanish ports from Russia and Nigeria. The 172,600 cubic metres capacity carrier “Christophe de Margerie” was scheduled to deliver a cargo on June 25 to the port of Bilbao in northwest Spain from the Yamal LNG plant in Russia, according to shipping data. Another cargo was due on June 25 at the Cartagena terminal in southeast Spain from the Nigerian plant at Bonny Island on board the 148,452 cubic metres capacity vessel “LNG Imo”.

Enagás, the Spanish national gas grid operator with Europe’s largest LNG import terminal network, posted lower first-quarter net profits, though praised the contribution to earnings of its Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) investment.

HAM Group, the Spanish LNG fuel provider and filing station developer, has signed a truck-loading agreement with a French truck-loading import terminal near Marseilles because of expected unavailability in Spain through gas network company and LNG terminal operator Enagás.

Enagás, the Spanish natural gas network operator and LNG terminal owner, said its terminals unloaded 126 LNG cargoes in the first half of 2020, 12.5 percent more than in the same period of last year as gas demand in Spain begins to return to pre-Covid-19 levels.