LNG

June 22 (LNGJ) - Spanish engineering company Sener has been contracted the owners of the Gate LNG import terminal in Rotterdam, Dutch utility Gasunie and global storage company Royal Vopak, to increase the facility’s send-out capacity by an additional 1.5 billions of cubic metres per annum. This will bring terminal’s handling capability to 13.5 Bcm.

   The scope of Sener’s work is procurement and construction management of the send-out capacity expansion. This consists of the installation of a vaporizer and a high-pressure LNG pump together with all its associated facilities, such as equipment foundations, interconnection of piping and racks, power supply and process control.

Royal Vopak, the Netherlands-based global storage company with four stakes in liquefied natural gas terminals and a new LNG import project for Hong Kong, said the German Federal Government would be replacing Vopak as a shareholder in the proposed German LNG terminal at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River.

The Sener engineering and technology group in Spain, known in the LNG industry for being a main contractor on the Dutch LNG import terminal in Rotterdam and other projects, has appointed Gabriel Alarcón, up until now General Manager of Technology and Innovation, as Managing Director of Sener Engineering, the area which handles the company's Infrastructure, Energy and Marine activities worldwide.

Alarcón's career in Sener began in 1995, since which time, apart from a brief interval at France’s ALSTOM, he has held various positions of responsibility in technical departments, project management, engineering management and general management.

Alarcón has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), where for the last 16 years he has worked as an associate professor in Aeronautical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, and Postgraduate programs related to Mechanical Engineering, noise and vibrations.

He also has a postgraduate degree in General Management from the IESE business school.

“While I do of course feel enthusiastic about taking on the new professional responsibilities with which Sener have entrusted me, in the current situation it is a challenge with an extra dose of excitement,” said Alarcón.

“I am proud to take on the role of Managing Director of Sener Engineering. We are faced with several circumstances that represent unique opportunities, and we will take advantage of them,” he added.

“We also have the best team of professionals in Sener’s history, which is an impressive feat. We will renew our purpose in society through engineering and technology,” stated Alarcón.

His most recent achievements as General Manager of Technology and Innovation include the restructuring of the Engineering area, with the launch of the Mobility, Energy and Innovation technology units. Through the last of these three units, Sener Engineering has renewed and driven its understanding of innovation and has accelerated its digitization process.

Sener Engineering's portfolio of high-tech projects covers a wide range of fields and locations

SENER Engineering's portfolio runs from the Gate LNG terminal through other ventures such as the Noor Ouarzazate thermosolar plants in Morocco, the Toluca-Mexico City train project in Mexico and software for the comprehensive design of small warships, known as corvettes, being built in Spain for the Royal Saudi Navy.

On the LNG front, the Gate LNG terminal, which came on line in 2011, recently awarded Sener another contract to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services needed for better maintenance and the improvement of activities in work scheduled for 2021.

German company TGE Gas Engineering GmbH has signed a contract with Flogas Britain Ltd, a company with several LNG firsts to its name, for the conversion of a former National Grid LNG peak-shaving facility at Avonmouth in southeast England into a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) terminal.