August 12, 2024 [Oilprice]- Crown LNG Holdings, which provides LNG liquefaction and regasification terminal technologies for harsh weather locations, aims to build a new import terminal in the UK, which could be the country’s fourth such facility, as UK import gas demand is rising amid falling domestic production from the North Sea.

Two weeks ago, Crown LNG Holdings said it had selected IKM Engineering & Environmental Consultants (IKM) as its partner for the design and engineering of its planned 100% owned Grangemouth LNG Infrastructure Project—a floating LNG import terminal in the Firth of Forth, Scotland.

The Grangemouth project on the east coast of Scotland will support the UK’s increasing drive for energy security post-Brexit and in the context of geopolitical impacts on energy markets. Currently, the UK relies on just three facilities for all of the country’s LNG imports, which jumped by 74% from 2021 to 2022, Crown LNG said last month.

A site study for the location of the import facility and LNG vessel access has been completed, and Crown LNG will progress immediately with the consenting process with the Scottish and UK Governments, the company said.

Crown LNG will employ a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) technology for the project.

The company says that the rationale of the project is sound, due to the UK’s high dependence on natural gas imports via interconnectors and to the increased competition for LNG supply in Europe after the plunge of Russian pipeline gas supply.

“It is a bold move, but the UK is too dependent on interconnectors,” Crown LNG chief executive Swapan Kataria told Bloomberg in an interview published on Friday, commenting on the plans for Grangemouth.

“If they stop working, what happens next?”

In early June, wholesale gas prices in the UK and Europe jumped to a six-month high after a hub offshore Norway that sends gas to a UK terminal was shut down.

Crown LNG, which targets a final investment decision for Grangemouth for late 2024, has held discussions with potential local industrial customers and has seen interest from U.S. export plant developers, Kataria told Bloomberg.

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