Dunkirk LNG Terminal
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Dunkirk LNG Terminal (also called Dunkerque LNG Terminal, using the French name) is an LNG terminal in Hauts-de-France, France.
Location
The map below shows the terminal, in the commune of Loon-Plage, in Dunkirk Arondissement, Nord Department, Hauts-de-France Region.
Project details
- Operator: Gaz-Opale[1]
- Owner: Dunkerque LNG[1]
- Parent Company: Fluxys (30.39%), Axa (via AXA Investment Managers) (15.19%), Crédit Agricole (via Crédit Agricole Assurances) (15.19%), Korean investors consortium led including IPM Group, Samsung (via Samsung Asset Management), and Hanwha Investment and Securities (39.24%)[2][3]
- Location: Loon-Plage, Dunkirk Arondissement, Nord Department, Hauts-de-France Region, France
- Coordinates: 51.03361, 2.19653 (exact)
- Capacity: 13 bcm/y[4]
- Cost: €1 billion (US$1.21 billion)[7]
- Financing: The €1 billion construction cost was entirely equity funded by the promoters; €800 million refinancing was subsequently provided in 2018 through loans by BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Commerzbank, ING, Intesa Sanpaolo, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, UniCredit, Belfius Bank and KBC[7]; an additional €800 million refinancing (via loans and bonds) was confirmed in April 2022 featuring several of the institutions involved in the 2018 refinancing package[8]
- Status: Operating
- Type: Import
- Start Year: 2017[2]
- Associated Infrastructure: Dunkirk Zeebrugge Pipeline, Fluxys Zeebrugge LNG Terminal
Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcm/y = billion cubic meters per year
Background
Dunkirk LNG Terminal is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal near Dunkirk in Hauts-de-France. It first appeared as a proposed terminal for public comment in February 2009.[9] An agreement was signed in March 2010 between EDF and TotalEnergies whereby TotalEnergies agreed to reserve regasification capacity.[10]
Financing was secured in June 2011, and construction was able to begin; June 2011 is considered the final investment decision date and the construction start date.[11] The terminal was commissioned in January 2017. It is the largest LNG regasification terminal in continental Europe.[12][13][14][15]
In May 2016, France and Belgium launched a €1.2 billion bidirectional gas transmission pipeline, the Dunkirk Zeebrugge Pipeline, connecting the Dunkirk and Fluxys Zeebrugge LNG Terminal, and allowing the LNG Dunkirk terminal to access the German, Dutch and UK gas market. The pipeline has an 8 bcm/y transport capacity.[16]
In October 2018 a consortium of Belgian gas group Fluxys, AXA Investment Managers and Credit Agricole Assurances acquired a stake of 31 percent from EDF, while a consortium of Korean investors led by IPM Group (InfraPartners Management) acquired a stake of 34.01 percent from EDF. The two consortia also bought Total's 9.9% share of the terminal.[17]
According to Food and Water Europe's profile on gas use in France, "Between January 2012 and March 2019 (and for Dunkerque since it started operating in January 2017), the four existing LNG terminals were only used at an average of about 30% of their capacity. At the end of 2016 while the Dunkirk terminal was just about to be commissioned, Engie, its main operator, announced it would cut 1,150 jobs in the French LNG sector. Despite these more than sufficient infrastructures, especially in a context of important gas demand reduction, France receives significant support (notably via the List of Projects of Common Interest) to further develop its gas network and transmission capacity."[18]
Dunkerque LNG launched a truck-loading service offering 3,000 slots in 2020 as well as two calls to the market for long-term and short-term capacities. The adaptation of the jetty to enable reloading and unloading services for small-scale LNG vessels (with a capacity > 5,000 m3) was finalised and its commercial launch will take place in 2021. In early 2021 Dunkerque LNG ran a Request For Interest (RFI) regarding its small-scale (truckloading and bunkering) services.[19]
In April 2022, a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) calculated that, through the Dunkirk terminal and the Zeebrugge LNG Terminal, Fluxys was the world's top importer of Russian LNG in the first two months since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A total of 14 LNG shipments delivered to the two terminals from the Yamal LNG Terminal in Siberia were valued at €717 million at Zeebrugge and €213 million at Dunkirk.[20]
In December 2022, Argus Media reported that optimization and debottlenecking processes at the facility were set to increase import capacity by 2 mtpa around the start of 2023.[6] As of July 2023, GIIGNL reported that the facility still had its original capacity of 9.6 mtpa.[21]
In March 2023, GRTgaz published in a ten-year plan that the sendout capacity had been increased from 520 GWh/d to 575 GWh/d, and could be further increased to 600 GWh/d. The 55 GWh/d increase is equivalent to 2 bcm/y, or 1.5 mtpa.[5] However, the 2024 version of Fluxys's Dunkerque LNG press kit states that the capacity is 13 bcm/y (9.6 mtpa), which does not appear to add this new capacity.[4]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (May 24, 2022). "Annual Report 2022 Edition" (PDF). GIIGNL. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The LNG Industry: Annual Report 2020, page 52, International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers, accessed April 29, 2020
- ↑ Elliot Hayes, AXA, Credit Agricole, Koreans invest in Dunkirk LNG, IJGlobal, June 29, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fluxys. Dunkerque LNG Press Kit. Accessed September 10, 2024.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 GRTgaz. Bilan prévisionnel pluriannuel et Plan décennal de développement 2022 - 2031. March 2023.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "European LNG import capacity to rise sharply in 2023 | Argus Media". 2022-12-29. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Dunkirk LNG Regasification Terminal Refinancing, IJGlobal, accessed May 25, 2020
- ↑ Dunkirk LNG Regasification Terminal Refinancing 2022, IJGlobal, accessed Jan. 24, 2023
- ↑ "Dunkerque LNG public consultation announcement". CRE France. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ "EDF et Total signent un accord dans le cadre du projet de terminal méthanier de Dunkerque". TotalEnergies.com. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
- ↑ "Dunkerque LNG press kit 2021" (PDF). Fluxys. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Dunkerque LNG Terminal: Introduction, EDF website, accessed July 2017.
- ↑ Dunkirk LNG Terminal, Global Energy Observatory, accessed April 2017.
- ↑ Dunkirk LNG terminal starts commercial operations, LNG World News, 3 Jan. 2017.
- ↑ Commercial commissioning of the Dunkirk regasification terminal, Fluxys press release, 3 Jan. 2017.
- ↑ France, Food and Water Europe, accessed December 4, 2019
- ↑ Fluxys becomes core shareholder of Dunkirk LNG terminal, LNG Industry, Oct. 31, 2018
- ↑ France, Food and Water Europe, accessed December 4, 2019
- ↑ GIIGNL 2021 Annual Report, accessed May 5, 2021
- ↑ Financing Putin’s war on Europe: Fossil fuel imports from Russia in the first two months of the invasion, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, Apr. 28, 2022
- ↑ GIIGNL. The LNG Industry: GIIGNL Annual Report 2023. July 14, 2023.
