LNG

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

Jan 2 (LNGJ) - The UK is scheduled to receive its second LNG shipment from Angola in the past week when the “Sonangol Etosha” with 160,500 cubic metres capacity berths on January 2 at the Isle of Grain LNG import terminal on the Medway River southeast of London, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on December 19 from the Soyo LNG export plant near the Congo River delta in southwest Africa.

Sept 22 (LNGJ) - The UK Isle of Grain import terminal on the Medway River estuary in the County of Kent, southeast of London, is scheduled to discharge a US cargo on September 23 being delivered by the 174,000 cubic metres capacity “GasLog Hong Kong”, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on September 10 from the Cameron LNG plant at Calcasieu Pass in Louisiana.

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.

April 22 (LNGJ) - The 261,988 cubic metres capacity Qatari Q-Max carrier “Mozah” was discharging a cargo on April 22 at the UK Isle of Grain import terminal, the largest in Europe and located on the Medway River in Kent. Shipping data showed that the vessel lifted the cargo on April 3 from the Ras Laffan export terminal in the Arabian Gulf.

April 20 (LNGJ) - The 180,000 cubic metres capacity carrier “Rias Baixas Knutsen” is scheduled to deliver a US cargo to the UK Isle of Grain terminal in Kent by the weekend, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on April 7 from America’s newest export plant, Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass facility located south of Lake Charles in Louisiana. The delivery is scheduled as the UK National Balancing Point benchmark wholesale natural gas price has dropped to the equivalent of $22.50 per million British thermal units.

Feb 17 (LNGJ) - The laden LNG carrier,  the “Arctic Discoverer” with 137,760 cubic metres of capacity, is scheduled to arrive on February 18 at the UK Isle of Grain import terminal on the Medway River in Kent, according to the Thamesport Authority. The vessel had departed loaded from the Huelva terminal in southwest Spain on February 14 after arriving at the Spanish terminal from Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

June 14 (LNGJ) - The “Boris Vilkitsky” with 177,000 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to deliver a Russian LNG cargo on June 15 to the Isle of Grain LNG import terminal, operated by National Grid Plc, on the Medway-Thames estuary 45 miles southeast of London. The shipment, lifted on June 7 from the Yamal plant in northern Siberia, is arriving in the UK as the National Balancing Point (NBP) natural gas price was at the equivalent of $9.55 per million British thermal units. The Dutch Title Transfer (TTF)) price for Continental Europe was at the equivalent of $9.85 per MMBtu.

June 7 (LNGJ) - The Russian LNG carrier “Georgiy Ushakov”, with 172,000 cubic metres of capacity, is scheduled to arrive with a cargo on June 8 at the UK Isle of Grain LNG terminal on the Medway-Thames estuary southeast of London from the Yamal plant in northern Siberia. A second carrier, the 171,800 cubic metres capacity “Tessala”, is due at Grain LNG on the same day from the Algerian export plant at Arzew on the Mediterranean coast.

National Grid Plc, the owner and operator of Europe’s largest LNG import terminal at the Isle of Grain southeast of London and which came on line 16 years ago, has launched an engineering project to safely extend the life-span of the facility's assets.