LNG

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.

French utility and LNG market participant Engie reported a more than 60 percent surge in revenues, though real net income plunged and the company said it was going ahead with an arbitration procedure against Russia’s Gazprom.

Algeria plans to export liquefied natural gas to Asia and South America after the refurbishment of the Skikda liquefaction and export plant on the North African nation’s Mediterranean coast with new storage facilities and a larger jetty to be constructed by a consortium of Chinese contractors.

Toufik Hakkar, the Chief Executive of state-run Algerian oil and gas company Sonatrach, made the statement during a briefing following the signing on February 17 of an engineering contract for the Skikda LNG upgrade.

Sonatrach signed an agreement with two Chinese engineering companies to build a new LNG storage tank with 150,000 cubic metres capacity and to modernize the jetty and loading facilities.

The contract is with China’s Sinopec Luoyang Engineering Co.  (LPEC) and Sinopec International Petroleum Services Corp. (SIPS).

The work will also include the dismantling of two 20-year-old storage tanks at the Skikda facility.

The Skikda plant currently has 4.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG export capacity.

“The loading capacities and the capacities of the port of Skikda do not make it possible to supply the larger ships serving distant markets,” said Hakkar.

Renovation

“With the renovation of the port and the construction of this new storage tank, we will be able to go to these markets which constitute a strong added value,” explained the CEO, mentioning Asia and South America.

Sonatrach has several contracts for the Skikda plant, including one with TotalEnergies to supply 2 MTPA of LNG to the French market, primarily through the LNG terminal at Fos Cavaou near Marseille.

The agreement also includes the sub-charter of a TotalEnergies LNG carrier to Sonatrach.

The supplies for TotalEnergies are delivered ex-ship (DES) to Fos Cavaou through to December 2023.

“This engineering, procurement and construction contract is worth 25 billion Algerian dinars ($178 million) and will take 40 months to complete,” stated Hakkar.

The contract was signed by Sonatrach’s Director of Central Engineering and Project Management Farredj Aoudjehane and the SIPS General Manager in Algeria, Xu Zhenqiang.

“The agreement marks a new stage of cooperation between Sonatrach and Sinopec International Petroleum Services,” said Xu.

“During the implementation period, Sinopec will do its best to guarantee the completion of this project under the necessary safety conditions and with high quality within the set deadlines,” added the Chinese executive.

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.

GRTgaz, the French natural gas grid operator and parent company of the LNG terminals operator, said the nation was well prepared with full storage to meet gas demands during the coming winter, provided minimum LNG supplies are maintained in the event of an exceptional cold spell.

GRTgaz, the French natural gas network operator and owner of LNG import terminals, said there had been a “massive” return of the fuel to Europe and France in the past year as it revealed plans to move LNG by rail to increase availability in Eastern France.

GRTgaz, the French natural gas network operator and whose subsidiary manages three LNG import terminals, said no supply problems were foreseen this winter season and added that send-outs of LNG into the system had doubled over the past year.

Elengy, the main French LNG terminal operator, said it was preparing the launch in February of a sale of 10-year access capacities for the Fos Tonkin import facility near the Mediterranean port of Marseille.

May 29 (LNGJ) - French LNG import terminal operator Elengy has named Laurence Borie-Bancel as its new Chief Executive from June 1 in succession to Martin Jahan de Lestang, who has been appointed to another position within parent company Engie. Borie-Bancel, aged 51, started her career in 1989 at Gaz de France, a predecessor company to both Engie and Elengy, where she worked on infrastructure ventures. “She developed an expertise in this area, working on various projects. In particular, she worked for Tokyo Gas and Osaka Gas in Japan as part of an LNG cooperation programme and was involved in the revamping of the Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminal located in France and in the development of the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal,” said Elengy. Borie-Bancel is a graduate of the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Ingenieurs de Genie Chimique in Toulouse.

May 16 (LNGJ) - The 75,000 cubic metres capacity Med-class LNG carrier “Cheikh Bouamama” was unloading a shipment on May 16 at the Fos Cavaou terminal near Marseilles from the Skikda plant in Algeria, operated by Sonatrach. The 210,100 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex carrier “Al Ruwais” is scheduled to deliver a shipment on May 19 to the Montoir-de-Bretagne terminal in Western France from Ras Laffan in Qatar. The 140,000 cubic metres capacity vessel “Arctic Discoverer” will deliver a cargo on May 20 to the Dutch Gate terminal in Rotterdam from the Hammerfest plant in Norway, operated by Equinor (formerly Statoil). The 141,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “LNG Adamawa” will deliver a cargo on May 22 to the Huelva terminal in southwest Spain from the Bonny Island export plant in Nigeria. The 215,000 cubic metres capacity Q-Flex vessel “Al Utouriya” will unload a Qatargas shipment on May 24 at the Zeebrugge terminal in Belgium.