Shell plans LNG terminal at Fos-sur-Mer

April 26, 2007
Shell Energy Europe plans to build an LNG regasification terminal at Fos-sur-Mer on southeastern France's Mediterranean coast.

Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent

PARIS, Apr. 26 -- Shell Energy Europe plans to build an LNG regasification terminal at Fos-sur-Mer on southeastern France's Mediterranean coast. Shell signed an agreement with Port of Marseille authorities for the project, which will have an initial capacity of about 8 billion cu m/year in the first stage. Costs have not yet been disclosed.

The terminal will not be operational before 2015, considering the many authorizations needed, said Shell France spokeswoman Mathilde Nithard.

The regasification terminal would have the same capacity as the Fos Cavaou terminal that Gaz de France and Total ASA expect to have on stream at yearend near the site of Shell's planned terminal. Both plants are larger than Gaz de France's existing terminal at Fos-sur-Mer.

Surprisingly, the project was announced barely a month after a CGT strike that blocked the Fos-sur-Mer hydrocarbon terminal for more than 2 weeks in March, costing refineries in the area about €25 million (OGJ, Apr. 9, 2007, Newsletter).

At the time, the strike seemed likely to discourage further area investments, but Shell's project timetable allows time for things to change, Nithard pointed out.

Shell's regasification terminal is the last in a list of such projects recently announced for France's coasts. ExxonMobil a year ago had a similar project in view at Fos but has since abandoned it.