Eemshaven FSRU

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Eemshaven FSRU is a floating LNG import terminal in the Netherlands.

Location

The terminal is located in Eemshaven seaport in Groningen, the Netherlands.

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Project details

• Operator: EemsEnergyTerminal BV
• Owner: EemsEnergyTerminal BV
• Parent company: Gasunie (50%), Vopak (50%)
• Vessel 1: Eemshaven LNG
• Vessel 1 Owner: Exmar
• Vessel 1 Parent Company: Exmar
• Vessel 2: Energos Igloo
• Vessel 2 Owner: Energos Infrastructure
• Vessel 2 Parent company: Apollo Funds
• Location: Eemshaven seaport, Groningen, the Netherlands
• Coordinates: 53.4356487, 6.8330977 (approximate)
• Capacity: 8 bcm/y
• Status: Operating
• Type: Import
• Start year: 2022
• Cost: €500 million (US$518 million)
• Financing: €160 million state guarantee from the Dutch government
• Associated infrastructure:

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcm/y = billion cubic meters per year

Background

In March 2022, Belgium's Exmar agreed with Dutch state-owned Gasunie on a five-year charter for a 120 metre long, barge-based floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) which was built in 2017. State-owned Gasunie, working in tandem with the Dutch government, fast-tracked this proposal due to geopolitical and gas supply developments in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The FSRU, which sails with a Liberian flag, was previously on a 10-year charter with Gunvor for use in Bangladesh, which ended in May 2021.

Ulco Vermeulen, a Gasunie director, told the Dutch parliament that the FSRU could be operational by the end of summer 2022. Assuming a five year operating lifetime, Vermeulen said that the project costs would be a maximum of €300 million.

In April 2022, Gasunie announced that it had started the tendering procedure for buyers interested in transporting LNG from Eemshaven into Europe, and that it would take responsibility for connecting Eemshaven to the nationwide gas pipeline network and distributing the gas across the Netherlands. The floating LNG plant would be leaving Singapore in May and was expected to arrive at Eemshaven in early August, according to Gasunie, with buyers able to use the FSRU for accessing LNG as early as winter 2022. The company also raised the possibility of the terminal becoming permanent "at a later stage", and being used for green hydrogen. The facility will operate under the name "EemsEnergyTerminal". The Dutch government also agreed to provide a €160 million state guarantee to support Gasunie's chartering of the FSRU. The company is required to pay the government an annual interest rate of 2.5% in return for the guarantee.

In May 2022, Gasunie announced that it had signed a binding contract for the lease of a second FSRU to convert LNG into gas at Eemshaven for the next five years. The FSRU has been leased from the American energy infrastructure company New Fortress Energy and is scheduled to arrive at Eemshaven in August. It is expected to have a storage capacity of approximately 170,000 cubic meters of LNG and a peak regasification capacity of 900 million standard cubic feet per day.

Construction reportedly started in May 2022.

According to Gasunie, both FSRUs were planned to be operational in autumn 2022, and combined they would provide regasification capacity of 8 bcm/y of LNG at the seaport. Gasunie director Ulco Vermeulen said: "This new terminal capacity will increase energy security for the Netherlands and North-West Europe and create additional LNG import capacity to reduce dependence on Russian gas."

As of June 2022, Gasunie's website states that the terminal is expected to be operational "as early as autumn 2022."

In July 2022, Gasunie announced that it had contracted 7 bcm of the terminal's overall 8 bcm capacity jointly to Czech energy company ČEZ and Shell Western LNG. ČEZ also secured pipeline capacity from Eemshaven to allow the Czech Republic to import up to 3 bcm/y of, which amounts to roughly one-third of the country's gas consumption. The French energy firm Engie booked the remaining 1 bcm regasification capacity at the terminal.

In September 2022, the Eemshaven facility started up when the first LNG shipment arrived on September 8 from the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal in the US. The first regasified LNG is set to flow into Gasunie's grid in mid-September, and the terminal was scheduled to operate at full, 8 bcm/y capacity by the end of November or early December 2022, according to Gasunie.

Announcing the commissioning of the terminal on October 12, 2022, Gasunie disclosed that €500 million had been invested in the project.

In April 2023, it was announced that Vopak would acquire 50% of the project, with the deal set to be finalized by October 2023. Ultimately the deal was finalize din December.

In January 2024, LNG Prime reported that the facility's ambition was to receive 9 bcm by the end of 2023, and potentially to receive 10 bcm/y in the future through technical optimization of the existing infrastructure including debottlenecking.

As of June 2024, Vopak and Gasunie were exploring the possibility of future hydrogen and carbon capture activities at the site, and had begun a market consultation around interest in these services.