Gate terminal gets first long-term contract

Warren R. True
Chief Technology Editor-LNG/Gas Processing

HOUSTON, Aug. 13 -- Denmark’s DONG Energy AS and Spain’s Iberdrola have signed a supply agreement for Iberdrola to deliver 35.3 bcf/year of natural gas as LNG to DONG at the Gate LNG terminal at Rotterdam. The 10-year agreement includes an option for a 5-year extension and follows the signing of commercial terms earlier this year.

This is the first LNG contract signed by DONG, said the company’s announcement, and the first long-term contract for supply of LNG into the Dutch market. Deliveries will begin in late 2011 after the Gate terminal opens earlier in the year.

Vopak NV and Gasunie are majority owners in the terminal, holding equal shares of 80% of the terminal. DONG holds 5% equity ownership in the terminal and 3 billion cu m/year of its import capacity. Other equity owners at 5% each are Essent, OMV Gas International, and E.On Ruhrgas.

DONG and three other companies—EconGas OMV, Essent, and E.On Ruhrgas—hold equal capacity rights to the terminal’s full capacity of 12 billion cu m/year. Six Austrian natural gas suppliers–Begas, EVN, Linz AG, OO Ferngas AG, OMV Gas International, and Wien Energie—comprise EconGas OMV.

Gate LNG terminal is under construction on about 86 acres in the northern part of the Maasvlakte in the port of Rotterdam and will operate under a 50-year lease, according to owners’ web sites. LNG will be stored in three, full-containment, double-walled, 180,000-cu m tanks.

Engineering, procurement, and construction contractor is a consortium of Techint, Sener, Entrepose, and Vinci; estimated construction cost is €800 million (about $996 billion).

Contact Warren R. True at [email protected].