August 10, 2023 [LNG Prime]- Dutch gas grid and LNG terminal operator, Gasunie, said that the FSRU-based LNG import facility in the port of Eemshaven has received its 50th shipment since September last year.
A spokesperson for Gasunie told LNG Prime on Wednesday that “cargo 50 is docked at the terminal.”
According to its AIS data provided by VesselsValue, Awilco LNG’s 155,900-cbm WilPride delivered the cargo to the 170,000-cbm FSRU Energos Igloo from Cheniere’s Corpus Christi terminal.
Besides Energos Igloo, the LNG hub operated by EemsEnergyTerminal also includes the 26,000-cbm barge-based FSRU Eemshaven LNG.
The terminal has a capacity of 8 billion cubic meters and supplies natural gas to capacity holders UK-based Shell, Czech utility CEZ, and France’s Engie.
Shell booked 4 bcm per year of the capacity, CEZ reserved 3 bcm per year, and Engie booked the rest.
In September last year, the terminal received its first LNG cargo from the US onboard the Shell-chartered 173,000-cbm Murex LNG carrier.
The terminal started delivering regasified LNG to the Dutch grid in a record time during the same month, but the facility did not deliver gas to the grid during two periods since the launch due to maintenance and the unavailability of the heat connection.
Gasunie said in March this year it completed all the planned work at the terminal and signed a deal in April with compatriot storage firm Vopak to sell 50 percent of the LNG hub.
The company’s spokesperson said that the Eemshaven LNG terminal received in total 39 cargoes so far this year and 11 cargoes in 2022.
The spokesperson also confirmed that Gasunie’s ambition is to be able to handle 9 bcm of natural gas before the end of this year at the LNG hub, and then to grow to 10 bcm.
Gasunie aims to achieve this by ‘technical optimization’ of the existing installations, including debottlenecking.
Czech LNG cargoes
CEZ said in a recent statement that the Eemshaven terminal took 12 LNG cargoes destined for the Czech Republic during the first half of this year.
The firm has purchased capacity at the Dutch terminal for five years until September 2027.
CEZ said that the contracts for the supply of LNG to the Eemshaven terminal include a condition that no imported gas comes from Russia and the majority of the shipments heading to the Czech Republic were ships from the US.
These 12 LNG cargoes equal to over 1 bcm of gas, roughly equivalent to 15 percent of Czech annual consumption, which reached 7.5 billion cubic meters last year, according to CEZ.
CEZ said the gas storage facilities in the Czech Republic are now more than 89 percent full, even though no gas is currently flowing from Russia.
“The terminal was put into operation last year in the record time of only a few months, and we are very satisfied with its operation so far,” Daniel Benes, CEZ CEO, said in the statement.
“During this summer, together with our partners, we want to focus on preparing for the next heating season and insuring the security of our supplies. This will include, for example, an alternative source of heat for the winter, with new gas boilers installed as a backup for supplies from the nearby heating plant,” Benes said.
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