Northwest Europe saw the opening of another LNG terminal this week when partners NV Nederlandse Gasunie and Royal Vopak formally opened the Gate LNG terminal in Maasvlakte near Rotterdam.
The 12 billion cu m/year (9 million tonnes/year; 1.1 bcfd) terminal, an £800 million investment, was built by a consortium of Techint E&C and Sener on 35 hectares (86.5 acres). The terminal has three 180,000-cu m storage tanks, two jetties, and regasification systems. Throughput capacity amounts to 180,000 cu m and, according to Gasunie, can be expanded to up to 16 billion cu m/year.
Commissioning on the terminal began in June upon receiving a cargo aboard the 138,000-cu-m British Trader from Trinidad and Tobago (OGJ, June 20, 2011, Newsletter). A second commissioning cargo arrived in early July aboard the 140,000-cu-m Arctic Discoverer. The final arrived in late July aboard the Q-Max 263,000-cu-m Samriya.
Techint E&C said it is also building two other regasification terminals, one in Dunkirk for 13 billion cu m/year of gas and in Swinoujscie, Poland, for 5 billion cu m/year.