Mugardos LNG Terminal

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Mugardos LNG Terminal, also called the Reganosa Ferrol LNG Terminal, is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Galicia, Spain.

Location

The terminal is located in Mugardos, La Coruña, Galicia, Spain.

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Project details

• Owner: Reganosa
• Parent company: Reganosa Holdco [100%]
  • Formerly Reganosa Holdco [85%]; Sojitz Corporation [15%]
  • Formerly: Tojeiro Group [51%], Sojitz [15%], Sonatrach [10%], the Government of Galicia [24%]
• Location: Mugardos, La Coruna, Galicia, Spain
• Coordinates: 43.4613, -8.2395 (exact)
• Capacity: 2.6 mtpa, 3.6 bcm/y
• Status: Operating
• Type: Import
• Start year: 2007

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

Background

Mugardos LNG Terminal is an LNG terminal in Galicia, Spain. It commenced operations in November 2007.

Mugardos LNG Terminal includes two storage tanks, each with a capacity of 150,000 m³, a berth capable of accepting vessels up to 140,000 m³, and two seawater vaporizers, as well as shipping and trucking loading facilities. The total project cost was approximately €400 million.

Between November 2007 and April 2015, Mugardos LNG Terminal loaded 26,000 trucks and had received 265 LNG carriers, providing 185 unloading operations and 80 loading operations.

In July 2016, Mugardos LNG Terminal received its first shipment of LNG from the United States. The 138,000 m³ capacity Sestao Knutsen delivered its shipment from the Sabine Pass liquefaction terminal in Louisiana.

In April 2017, the LNG terminal received its first Q-Flex carrier, the Al Utoriya, which has a capacity of 216,203 m³.

As of December 2018, Mugardos LNG Terminal was one of Spain's three busiest LNG terminals, along with the Bilbao LNG Terminal and the Huelva LNG Terminal. The trend has continued, with Mugardos operating at 32% of its capacity in 2019, ranking third in the nation behind Bilbao (76%) and Huelva (38%).

In January 2021 terminal operator Reganosa (Regasificadora del Noroeste) announced that 100% of the terminal's electricity needs would be supplied from certified renewable sources starting in 2021.

In December 2022, Reganosa announced that it had completed a $5.2 million euro upgrade to the jetty as part of the plant's modernization program, expanding the types of ships that are able to use the facility.

In October 2023,

Opposition

In June 2012, Spain's Supreme Court ruled in favor of citizens' groups, upholding a 2008 ruling by the Galicia Superior Court, which found that the city impermissibly changed its zoning code before completing an environmental impact statement. The lawsuit was filed by San Esteban Neighbours Association, the Grouping of Ferrol Urban Zone Neighbours Associations and the Cruceiro de Meha.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, environmental group Ferrol Estuary Citizens Emergency Committee stated, “This ruling confirms, just as we have been arguing, that the Mugardos LNG Terminal is an installation that has been operating illegally for more than four years.” It argued the LNG terminal was a threat to residents and the estuary ecosystem.

Mugardos city officials were expected to quickly issue a revised permit for the Mugardos LNG Terminal, preventing any impact to its operations.

Opposition groups have cited the low utilization rates among Spain's LNG terminals to call into question the necessity of such extensive LNG infrastructure. According to Food and Water Europe in 2019 (prior to the re-opening of El Musel LNG Terminal), "Since 2008, all LNG terminals (except for Mugardos) have been expanded and the total regasification capacity has increased by 8%, despite a decline in gas demand...even though the utilisation rate of Spain’s LNG regasification capacity was at only ~23% on average between January 2012 and March 2019, same as the low EU average during the same time period! The need to have so much LNG regasification capacity is questionable and best illustrated with the El Musel LNG Terminal (7bcm/y and a 300,000m³ storage capacity) which was completed in 2012 and then directly put into 'hibernation', 'until demand picks up'. The terminal has not been used since then. Despite large underutilization, Spain was the 5th biggest LNG importer with the 5th biggest liquefaction capacities worldwide in 2018, and for both cases number 1 in Europe (followed by France). Since at least 2016, Spain repeatedly imported cargoes of fracked US gas through its LNG terminals."

Expansion projects

As of December 2019, the LNG database published by Gas Infrastructure Europe listed three proposed expansion projects at the Mugardos terminal, with operational start dates in 2020, 2022, and 2024. According to GIE data, only the third project would expand the terminal's gas processing capacity. As of April 2022, all three proposed expansion projects had been removed from GIE's database. In May 2022, terminal operator Reganosa announced a €16.8 million initiative to install a new energy-efficient compression system at the terminal, but made no mention of plans to expand terminal capacity.

As of June 2022, there have been no further press or company reports of capacity expansion at the Mugardos terminal for more than two years, so the expansion project is presumed to be shelved.

In October 2023, it was reported that the Port of Ferrol would invest €16.8 million into the facility to increase its energy efficiency.

As of July 2024, there have been no project updates in over four years, and the expansion project is presumed to be cancelled.

Expansion project details

• Owner: Endesa [21%], Gas Natural Fenosa [21%], Tojeiro Group [18%], NovaCaixaGalicia [15%]; Sonatrach [10%]; the Galician government [10%]; Santander Bank [5%]
  • Formerly Caixa Galicia owned 10% and Caixanova owned 5%; these banks merged into NovaCaixaGalicia, and this is now presumed to own 15%
  • Banco Popular Español took over Banco Pastor, which owned 5%, and later Banco Popular Español became Santander Bank
• Parent company: Endesa [21%], Gasifica [21%], Tojeiro Group [18%], NovaCaixaGalicia [15%]; Sonatrach [10%]; the Galician government [10%]; Santander Group [5%]
• Location: Mugardos, La Coruna, Galicia, Spain
• Coordinates: 43.4613, -8.2395 (exact)
• Capacity: 3.6 bcm/y
• Status: Cancelled
• Type: Import
• Cost: €36 million (US$41 million)
• FID status: Pre-FID
• Start year: 2024

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