LNG

Feb 5 (LNGJ) - Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal, the UK’s Isle of Grain facility on the Medway River near London, has followed up its capacity agreement with the Algerian energy company Sonatrach by signing a second deal with US company Venture Global with its Calcasieu Pass export plant in Louisiana and three other facilities being developed. “The Grain LNG terminal is an important gateway to the broader European market, and we look forward to supplying the region through this new access point for years to come,” said Michael Sabel, Chief Executive of Venture Global.

   Grain LNG, owned by a subsidiary of National Grid Plc, said a 16-year agreement was signed with Venture Global for around 3 million tonnes per annum of capacity from 2029 as a result of Grain LNG’s competitive auction process which was launched in September 2023. “I’m delighted that we are able to announce the second result from our September auction, commencing a long-term partnership with Venture Global,” said Katie Jackson President of National Grid Ventures, the UK grid operator’s subsidiary that owns the LNG terminal.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), the UK Government agency for oil and natural gas, has expressed concern about the slow pace of North Sea development plans that may mean more future demand for liquefied national gas, pipeline gas and oil imports for the UK to avert an energy crisis.

The United Kingdom, one of Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas importers and with new natural gas projects planned for the North Sea, is set to roll back and delay Net Zero emissions policies with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declaring that Britain’s new response to the climate change dilemma has to be a “proportionate” one rather than being imposed on ordinary people by an elite minority, personified by Sunak himself who is a former investment banker with a vacation home in Santa Monica, California.

Centrica plc, the UK owner of the British Gas utility business and a liquefied natural gas importer, has signed a long-term LNG supply agreement with US export plant developer Delfin Midstream Inc.

Centrica plc, the UK owner of the British Gas utility business and an liquefied natural gas importer, said in a trading update that it continued to deliver a “strong operational performance” from its balanced portfolio.

National Grid plc of the UK, whose various businesses include the Grain LNG terminal on the Medway River in Kent, Interconnectors to the European Union and US power and gas businesses in New England, reported a 12 percent fiscal year increase in operating profits to £4.89 billion ($5.98Bln) compared with £4.37Bln in the previous year.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) has signed loan agreements underwriting project financing amounting to over US$2.3 billion for a power interconnector between  UK and German LNG import locations to also help guarantee against any future natural gas and LNG shortages.

March 14 (LNGJ) - The “LNG Sokoto” tanker with 137,500 cubic metres of capacity berthed early on March 14 at the UK Isle of Grain LNG import terminal on the Medway River in Kent with a shipment from the Nigerian Bonny Island export plant, according to shipping data. The cargo delivered to UK company National Grid plc was lifted from the Nigerian plant on February 26.

The largest European LNG import terminal, the UK Isle of Grain facility located southeast of London, has called on the market to participate in an expression of interest exercise for capacity.

Grain LNG has issued a statement inviting market participants to express an interest in low-cost capacity at the facility from 2029.

Applicants will have until August 15, 2022, to submit a non-binding declaration of their interest in capacity at Grain LNG.

“This is an opportunity for the market to indicate the quantities and duration of the contracts they would like, enabling Grain LNG to determine the best way to proceed and the capacity products to offer,” said the company.

Grain LNG, a subsidiary of the UK’s London Stock Exchange-listed National Grid plc, explained that it had a series of existing capacity contracts coming to an end over the course of 2029.

As a result, Grain LNG expects to be able to offer at least 360,000 cubic metres of storage and 300 gigawatt hours per day of regasification capacity for start-up in 2029.

Short-term contracts

“As the capacity already exists, this will enable Grain LNG to uniquely offer short-term contracts of five years or more and should result in significantly lower cost capacity versus new build terminals,” the company explained.

Nicola Duffin, Commercial Director at Grain LNG, said that LNG represented an ever more vital component in the UK and global energy mix and supported security of supply.

“This looks set to continue in the context of the wider market. LNG is also an important balancing tool for intermittent renewables,” added Duffin.

“The EOI provides a great opportunity to gauge market needs and help us to develop the packages and product offerings that meet those requirements,” she stated.

Grain LNG explained that once the application window closes, responses will be assessed, the product offering finalised and the need for an auction will be determined.

“Any auction plans must gain Ofgem (regulatory) approval and are subject to a market consultation before the binding auction phase can be launched,” said Duffin.

Grain LNG in addition to being the largest regasification terminal in Europe is also the only one in the UK able to process the full global range of LNG.

As a completely independent operator, Grain provides 40 percent of the UK’s LNG capacity, offering two entry points to the National Balancing Point gas market and cost-effective access to Northwest Europe.

Grain LNG already has plans for up to 300 gigawatt hours per day, or around 7.2 million tonnes per annum of LNG, of redelivery capacity and 380,000 cubic metres of associated storage, to be made available from mid-2025.

The expansion will increase the size of storage at the terminal, located on the Isle of Grain in Kent on the Thames-Medway estuaries, to about 1.2 million cubic metres.

Grain LNG also offers reloads, trans-shipments and a multi-bay facility for reloading road tankers and ISO containers.

UK LNG imports increased by nearly 50 percent as the country's regasification infrastructure was used to increase natural gas supplies to Europe after the February invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the start of Western sanctions.