LNG

June 26 (LNGJ) - Gasunie, the Dutch utility and LNG terminals owner in the Netherlands and Germany, has had Diederik Samsom appointed as the Chairman of the Gasunie Supervisory Board by the Dutch Ministry of Finance.

   Samsom is a former leader of the Dutch Labour Party and was the “chef de cabinet” to European Union Commissioner Frans Timmermans from 2019 to 2024. Samsom is an environmental activist and started his career at the radical group Greenpeace where he was campaign manager and joined after studying applied physics at Delft University of Technology.

June 20 (LNGJ) - The Netherlands was receiving two LNG cargoes, one from Norway and one from the United States. The “BW Pavilion Aranthera” with 173,400 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to deliver a US LNG cargo on June 21 to the Dutch Eemshaven import terminal in Groningen, according to shipping data.

   The cargo was loaded on June 7 at the Freeport export facility in Texas. The “Arctic Discoverer” with 139,760 cubic metres capacity has berthed at the Gate terminal in Rotterdam with a shipment from Hammerfest in Norway lifted on June 14.

Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE), the association representing the interests of European Union gas infrastructure operators in gas transmission, storage and liquefied natural gas, said the flow of LNG to European terminals hit its lowest since December 2021.

The GIE, which is based in Brussels and represents 70 member companies from 26 countries, provided the information from its gas grid data.

LNG supplies from the main terminals in the EU in nations such as Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Germany plunged in May 2024.

The decline in regasified LNG flowing into gas grids dropped by a quarter to around 6.75 million tonnes.

Regasified LNG flows were also down by 13 percent compard with April 2024.

Total LNG supplies from terminals to Europe’s gas pipeline system was also lower in the January to May period 2024.

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The decreased regasified LNG volumes were logged even as the EU had more terminals in operation as floating facilities came on line in Italy and Germany.

The total for the year to date though May fell by 10 percent compared with the first five months of last year to reached around 37.5MT.

Another body in the EU, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG), said that by the end of May the share of LNG was still the largest among sources of gas supply to Europe in 2024, standing at 32 percent.

Thus compared the 28 percent of gas provided from the Norwegian Continental Shelf and another 18 percent that came from gas storage facilities.

Other sources of gas received in Europe included 10 percent recived by pipleines from Algeria.

The Algerian volumes were delivered directly to Spain or via Tunisia to Italy by way of Sicily.

The share of gas supplies from Russia and volumes via Ukraine came to 9.5 percent.

Another 2.5 percent of European gas volumes originated from the UK North Sea.

The US remained the largest supplier of LNG to import terminals in EU and the UK followed by Qatar.

Feb 14 (LNGJ) - Royal Vopak, the Dutch global storage company, reported higher annual and fourth-quarter net profits and revenues amid progress on liquefied natural gas projects. Vopak posted revenues for 2023 of €1.42 billion ($1.57Bln) compared with €1.36Bln in 2022. “We expanded our open-access LNG capacity in the Netherlands to support energy security, strengthened our leading position in India and solidified our leading industrial terminal position with investments,” Vopak said.

   Excluding exceptional items, Vopak reported annual net profits of €412.9 million compared with €294.4M in the previous year and fourth-quarter net profits came to €105 million versus €88.5M in the same three months of 2022. “Growth across most of the business units led to a healthy proportional occupancy of 91 percent and Ebitda of €964M which is a record result for Vopak leading to a 9 percent year-on-year increase,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Dick Richelle. “We successfully completed the divestment of three chemical terminals in Rotterdam and a chemical distribution terminal in Savannah in the United States. We continued to grow our base in industrial and gas terminals with expansion in China, the US, India and the Netherlands,” Richelle added.

The US Department of Energy published its latest liquefied natural gas export data with the Netherlands as the leading destination for the first 11 months of 2023 while the leadership in highest prices remained with the Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana.

Jan 15 (LNGJ) – A steady stream of LNG carriers was heading for the Netherlands this week as the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark prices showed falling front-month futures being overtaken by the spot price on the European Energy Exchange. The front-month TTF for February was last at the equivalent of $10.130 million British thermal units while the TTF on the day-ahead spot market on January 15 was at $10.273 per MMBtu.

   The vessels heading for the Dutch terminals, the Gate facility in Rotterdam and the Eemshaven terminal in Groningen, included the “Maran Gas Ithaca”, according to shipping data. That ship  with 170,500 cubic metres capacity was scheduled to deliver a shipment from the Calcasieu Pass plant in Louisiana on January 17 and lifted on December 30, 2023. The “Kool Baltic” with 170,200 of capacity was due to discharge a cargo at Eemshaven on January 18 that was loaded in Trinidad in the Caribbean on January 3. Another vessel heading for the Rotterdam terminal was the “Global Star”, due to berth on January 20. The ship with 173,400 cubic metres capacity loaded its cargo on January 7 at the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana. Two other ships heading for the Gate terminal with US cargoes are the “Lech Kaczynski” and the “LNG Rosenrot”.

Nov 10 (LNGJ) - Four cargoes are heading for the European Union in the next couple of weeks from Qatar, Trinidad and the US. The Qatari Q-Flex vessel “Al Karaana” with 205,990 cubic metres capacity will berth at Zeebrugge on November 15 with volumes from Ras Laffan lifted on October 29. The “BW Cassia” with 170,8000 cubic metres capacity will discharge a Trinidad cargo on November 15 at the Eemshaven terminal in Groningen, according to shipping data. The volumes were lifted on October 29 from the Caribbean plant at Point Fortin.

   The carrier “Isabella” with 174,130 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to discharge a US cargo on November 19 at the Dutch Gate terminal in Rotterdam. The cargo was lifted on November 7 from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana. Germany will receive a cargo on November 23 at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven on board the carrier “Adriano Knutsen” with 179,980 cubic metres of capacity. The volumes were loaded on November 7 at the Corpus Christi plant in Texas.

Oct 16 (LNGJ) – Two LNG cargoes are heading for Rotterdam. The carrier “Maran Gas Andros” with 170,000 cubic metres capacity was scheduled to deliver a US cargo on October 16 to the Dutch Gate terminal, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on October 2 from the Cameron export point in Louisiana. The vessel “Arctic Aurora” with 154,880 of capacity is due to discharge a Norwegian cargo on October 24 at the Gate terminal. The shipment was loaded on October 14 at the Hammerfest plant in northern Norway.

Sept 28 (LNGJ) - Three cargoes are heading for the European Union nations, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in the days ahead. The LNG carrier “Rias Baixas Knutsen” with capacity of 180,000 cubic metres is scheduled to discharge a US cargo on September 29 at the floating terminal at the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on September 8 from the Cameron export point in Louisiana.

   The vessel “Woodside Rees Withers” with 173,400 cubic metres capacity is due to unload a US shipment on September 30 at the Dutch Gate terminal in Rotterdam. The cargo was lifted on September 17 from the Corpus Christi export plant in Texas. The carrier “Clean Vision” with 162,000 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to deliver a Russian cargo on September 30 to the Belgian terminal at Zeebrugge. The cargo was loaded on September 22 at the Yamal Arctic export plant at Sabetta.

 Sept 19 (LNGJ) - Royal Vopak, the Dutch global storage company and LNG sector participant, has reached agreement with Infracapital on the sale of Vopak chemical terminals in Rotterdam. Vopak, whose latest LNG investment was taking a 50 percent stake in the Dutch Eemshaven terminal in Groningen with utility Gasunie, said it reached an agreement with Infracapital on the sale of its three chemical terminals in Rotterdam, the Botlek, TTR and Chemiehaven facilities for a total price of €407 million ($434M).

   Infracapital, an equity investment arm of M&G Plc of the UK, is a specialist European infrastructure investor and has a track record of owning assets in the Netherlands. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close before the year-end. “Although within Vopak we will surely miss our colleagues at the chemical terminals in Rotterdam, we are convinced that our customers and colleagues will be well served by partnering with Infracapital who is a long-term and an experienced infrastructure investor,” said Patrick van der Voort, Vopak’s Business Unit President.