Netherlands Opens New LNG Terminal with Arrival of First LNG from US
The Netherlands' efforts to expand its LNG import capacity before the winter heating season has begun with the arrival of two new floating storage-regasification units (FSRU) at the port of Eemshaven. The first gas shipment arrived today, September 8, and the facilities are expected to ramp up to full capacity by later in the year. In the coming weeks, the first FSRUs are also due to arrive in Germany and another that will jointly serve Finland and Estonia.
“In order to increase the security of supply and become less dependent on Russian gas, a new floating LNG terminal at Eemshaven is developed, which comprises of two FSRUs,” wrote Wagenborg. They helped to dock the two new units at the Netherlands port this week.
The new facility is being developed to supplement the Netherlands’ current import capabilities in Rotterdam. The EemsEnergyTerminal will have the capacity to handle 8 billion cm when all the systems are fully established. Rotterdam currently handles 16 billion cm with plans to expand its capacity to 20 billion cm within the next three years.
The first of the units to arrive at Eemshaven was the Golar Igloo on September 4. Registered in the Marshall Islands, the tanker has a capacity of nearly 167,000 cm of LNG. She is coming from New Fortress Energy for the assignment in the Netherlands. Two days later she was joined by the Eemshaven LNG, a unit from Exmar.
The first shipment into the new facility arrived aboard the LNG tanker Murex Registered in the Bahamas, she has a capacity of 173,400 cm of LNG. The vessel departed Sabine Pass in the United States on August 23. The LNG will be reconverted into gaseous natural gas and is expected to enter Gasunie’s transmission network by mid-next week.
The operators of the EemsEnergyTerminal report that they expect to complete various projects to have the facility at full capacity by November or December. By the end of the year, they expect around 18 LNG cargos to arrive and be unloaded at the new facility.
Two weeks ago, Excelerate Energy also announced that its FSRU Exemplar had completed its assignment in Argentina before moving to Eastern Europe. The vessel, which has a capacity of 150,900 cm of LNG, departed Bahia Blanca on August 24 bound first to Spain for maintenance before repositioning into the Baltic to serve both Finland and Estonia. The vessel will be docked in southern Finland near a pipeline that connects the two countries.