Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent
PARIS, July 28 -- Gaz de France has taken delivery of its first consignment of Egyptian LNG at its Montoir de Bretagne gasification terminal in Brittany.
The company signed a contract in 2002 to purchase for 20 years all output from Egypt's LNG Idku Train 1 at a rate of 4.8 billion cu m/year. It plans to use the LNG to develop its trading business throughout the Atlantic Basin. The Fos Cavaou terminal on the Mediterranean coastline is to receive this LNG but will not be on stream before 2007.
Meanwhile, Gaz de France signed a contract under which BG Group will buy 36 cargoes of Idku's LNG at an average rate of two cargoes per month through 2006 in anticipation of Fos Cavaou start-up in 2007. Early completion of the Idku terminal also allowed BG and Malaysia's Petronas—the two largest shareholders of the Idku consortium—to share six spot cargoes.
Even when Fos Cavaou comes on stream, Gaz de France will not need all of its Idku gas for customers in France. Fos Cavaou will take only one cargo out of two, a spokesman told OGJ.