LNG

LNG is a controversial topic in Germany: Green paint was thrown at the back entrance of Berlin’s luxury Hotel Adlon at the opening day of the Global LNG Summit while Stefan Wenzel, state secretary to Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck spoke just prior to a panel with top executives from Cheniere Energy, ADNOC Gas, Shell and bp.

With five liquefied natural gas import terminals in operation, France has now assumed the role of a leading regasified LNG supplier to the European Union, especially Germany and other neighbours, as gas from Russia’s Gazprom has been easily replaced with increasing gas flows from West to East in the EU.

Elengy, the operator of three terminals in Western and Southern France at Montoir-de-Bretagne, Fos Tonkin and Fos Cavaou has increased the LNG trucking capabilities at the Fos Cavaou facility located west of the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

The Managing Director of Elengy, Nelly Nicoli, inaugurated the two new tank-truck loading bays at the Fos Cavaou terminal.

The LNG fuel expansion event was also attended by René Raimondi, Mayor of the town of Fos, Hervé Martel, President of the Grand Port Maritime de Marseilles, and Régis Passerieux, Sub-Prefect of the district of Istres.

The new loading bays at Fos Cavaou now give the West Med terminal four bays with the capacity to offer 22,000 slots a year.

“LNG constitutes an immediate and effective response to the challenges of the energy transition in the road transport sector by reducing carbon-dioxide emissions,” stated Nicoli.

Commissioning

“With this commissioning, Elengy will continue with the development of its infrastructure to provide reliable and sustainable access to LNG for road transport,” added Nicoli.

“The two new bays of Fos Cavaou represented an investment of €10 million ($10.8M),” she stated.

Elengy has been expanding LNG truck-loading bays since 2013 at the Montoir-de-Bretagne and the Fos Tokin and Fos Cavaou terminals.

Over the past 10 years around 70,000 trucks have been loaded with LNG for the gradually expanding fuel market in the European Union.

Ship movements

Elengy’s three regulated terminals offer market flexibility for the unloading or loading of any type of LNG carriers as well as trans-shipment services.

The company’s LNG carrier traffic amounts to around 330 ships per annum at the three facilities.

Elengy added that during 2023 LNG had also been loaded into ISO containers at the Fos terminals for transportation by rail.

The company said it was also developing its services by investing in the development of bio-LNG made from waste to reduce the environmental footprint of the fuel.

Svanehøj France, the tank control systems business, has been awarded contracts to update safety systems at the established Dabhol LNG import terminal on the West Coast of India and at the French Fos Cavaou LNG facility located east of Marseilles.

Svanehøj's tanks business has a long and distinguished track record since it was established at the French Channel port of Calais in 1961 under the banner of the UK engineering company Whessoe plc. 

At the time the company equipped its first gas carriers in the 1970s and its first LNG storage tank in 1983. 

It was also the first company to provide a level, temperature, and density (LTD) gauge for floating storage and it was part of Finland’s Wärtsilä from 2006 until it was acquired by Denmark’s Svanehøj in 2022.

Svanehøj France now develops technologies that enhance the safety of LNG, liquefied petroleum gas and cryogenic and refrigerated storageon sea and land.

Safety and control

“Svanehøj's instrumentation and software solutions are installed to ensure that all hazardous aspects related to liquified gas storage are known and controllable,” the company said.

“The systems proactively measure possible development or creation of stratification by monitoring the tanks. The product range includes tank level and density gauges, temperature transmitters, and control systems that operate accurately under cryogenic conditions,” the company added.

Svanehøj France noted that as time progresses, ageing machinery becomes obsolete, prompting the recognition of the importance of upgrading safety instrumentation. 

In response, the Dabhol terminal owned by the Konkan LNG subsidiary of GAIL India and the Fos Cavaou terminal operated by France’s Elengy, a unit of GRTgaz within the utility and energy group Engie, partnered with Svanehøj France to renew the safety instrumentation for a combined three LNG tanks.

“We are reconnecting with liquefied gas terminals worldwide and have learnt that some could be in better shape,” said Simon Dufour, an executive at Svanehøj France.

“Some only need spare parts, but some need new instrumentation installed. Without new instrumentation, it can result in dangerous situations and end up shutting downoperations,” Dufour explained.

Contract scopes

The company said that the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal has already successfully retrofitted one tank with a new densitometer, replacing previous systems and improving functionality and reliability. 

“Encouraged by this accomplishment and the cooperation with Svanehøj, Fos Cavaou plans to simultaneously replace the densitometers in the remaining two tanks with delivery of instrumentation in October,” said Svanehøj France.

Konkan LNG in India has embarked on a comprehensive plan to upgrade the Dabhol terminal with Svanehøj's valuable experience in safety instrumentation for LNG storage being leveraged. 

“The project encompasses replacing various components while retaining the existing temperature probes, guaranteeing qualitative safety measures,” Dufour said.

“As part of the upgrade, we will install three advanced servo-driven tank gauging systems, the LTs, to improve reliability and efficiency. An LTD tank gauging system and two data acquisition systems will also be delivered,” he added.

Engie, the France-based European utility company, reported an annual profit of €3.7 billion ($4.2Bln) compared with a loss of €1.5Bln in 2020 as the natural gas and power network businesses improved and nuclear turned a profit while renewables were disappointing given the amount of investment and promotion.

While imports of liquefied natural gas to the European Union and the UK are increasing in January, none of the natural gas is ending up in Germany because there is no LNG infrastructure even amid various plans spanning almost 10 years.

Elengy, the French LNG import terminal owner, and TotalEnergies said that France’s first LNG bunkering vessel, “Gas Vitality”, has loaded a cargo at the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal, located west of the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

France’s Commission de Régulation de l'Energie (CRE) has given the go-ahead for a further increase in the cost of imported natural gas, leading to an immediate jump in regulated domestic sales tariffs as costs rise for utilities all over Europe.

Sept 15 (LNGJ) – Two LNG cargoes are heading for Belgium and France with much needed deliveries. The 170,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “LNG Abalamabie” is scheduled to deliver a shipment on September 22 to the French terminal at Fos sur Mer west of Marseille from the Bonny Island plant in Nigeria. The 206,000 metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Kattiyah” is scheduled to discharge a cargo on September 23 at the Zeebrugge import terminal in Belgium from Ras Laffan in Qatar.

   The shipments are bound for the European Union as the Continental European benchmark price, the Dutch Title Transfer facility (TTF), surged to a new summer season record of the equivalent of $22.75 per million British thermal units amid very low EU LNG storage inventories.

Elengy, the French LNG terminal operator and its subsidiary Fosmax LNG, are launching an open season for capacity subscriptions at the Fos Cavaou facility, located in the Mediterranean west of the Port of Marseilles.

Three of France’s LNG terminals, Fos Tonkin, Fos Cavaou in the Mediterranean and Montoir-de-Bretagne on the Atlantic Coast, are operated by Elengy within the Engie Group and as subsidiaries of GRTgaz, France’s gas network operator.

Fosmax LNG is calling for capacity subscriptions at the Fos Cavaou terminal during 2021.

The Fos Cavaou facility has been operating since 2010 and has three storage tanks with combined capacity of 330,000 cubic metres.

France has a total of four terminals and the most modern facility opened in 2016 at Dunkirk on the Channel Coast and has capacity of 570,000 cubic metres in three tanks.

Elengy explained that Fos Cavaou’s operations are currently guaranteed through to March 2030 by ongoing subscriptions and contracts totaling 87 terawatt hours per year of capacity.

“Fos Cavaou, at the crossroads of maritime routes and major gas infrastructures, offers a privileged access to all European gas markets and the small-scale potential in a key Mediterranean location,” said Elengy.

“The ‘Open Season Fos Cavaou 2021’ is initiated in response to a high level of market interest expressed over the past few months, and aims to make available additional primary capacity achieved through technical and regulatory de-bottlenecking, as well as capacity extensions beyond 2030,” explained Elengy

The windows of interest offered include 1.0 billion cubic metres per annum from January 2022, 2.5 Bcm per annum from January 2024 and 4.5 Bcm per annum from April 2030 until 2045 or longer.

The open season will have two phases. Firstly, there will be a non-binding call for interest, which is expected to last for three months to precisely assess market needs.

Secondly, there will be a binding Open Season, which is expected during the second half of 2021 to perform a market test based on binding commitments of the parties.

“Registration for ‘Open Season Fos Cavaou 2021’ is now open, and shippers wishing to register are invited to complete and sign the Confidentiality Agreement, provided on the Fosmax LNG website, and send a digital copy by email return,” explained Elengy.