Zeebrugge LNG Terminal

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Zeebrugge LNG Terminal is an operating LNG import terminal in West Flanders, Belgium. An expansion project at the terminal is under construction.

Location

The terminal is located in Zeebrugge harbour, Bruges Arrondissement, West Flanders Province.

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Project Details

• Owner: Fluxys LNG SA (100%)
• Location: Zeebrugge, Bruges Arrondissement, West Flanders Province, Belgium
• Coordinates: 51.353, 3.22241 (exact)
• Capacity: 9 bcm/y, 6.6 mtpa
• Status: Operating
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 1987
• Associated Infrastructure: Dunkirk Zeebrugge Pipeline, Dunkirk LNG Terminal

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcfd = billion cubic feet per day

Background

Zeebrugge LNG Terminal is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. It has a capacity of 9 billion cubic meters per year. It was proposed in 1976, construction began in 1982, and it was brought online in 1987. It is owned by Fluxys LNG, a subsidiary of the Belgian gas firm Fluxys.

In May 2016, France and Belgium launched a €1.2 billion bidirectional gas transmission pipeline, the Dunkirk Zeebrugge Pipeline, connecting Dunkirk to the Fluxys Zeebrugge LNG Terminal, and allowing the Dunkirk LNG Terminal to access the German, Dutch and UK gas market. The pipeline has an 8 bcm/y transport capacity.

According to Food & Water Europe's 2019 profile on Belgian gas use, "...the Zeebrugge port [terminal has] an import capacity of 9bcm/y, which is also a strategically important port for gas flows from Norway and the UK. Moreover, it provides loading services, meaning that if LNG prices are high enough in another part of the world, LNG could be shipped there from Zeebrugge (the process of liquefying and regasifying entails significant energy consumption as well as emissions, and transporting the LNG overseas also demands significant energy use). However, the Zeebrugge energy terminal is largely underused. Between 2011 and 2018 the average daily utilization rate only attained 10%. In 2019, the facility got the green light to finalize new long-term contracts up to 2044."

In September 2019, Qatar Petroleum booked the full LNG regasification capacity of Zeebrugge LNG terminal up to 2044.

In September 2020, the terminal began transporting gas by rail, widening the opportunities for customers.

In July 2020, Fluxys LNG, owner and operator of the Zeebrugge import terminal, reframed its Small-Scale Berthing Rights service into Stand Alone Berthing Rights, making the loading and unloading of additional small and large LNG cargoes possible. In September, the first LNG container was loaded at the terminal for rail transport from the port, creating an intermodal logistics chain. In October 2020 Fluxys LNG consulted the market regarding a new LNG service - Virtual Liquefaction - that would be available as of January 2021 and will enable liquefaction by counter-nominating gas on regasified flows.

As of February 2024, Fluxys was marketing the project as the "Zeebrugge Multi-molecule Hub," suggesting the facility would be able to import low-carbon hydrogen or derivatives in the future.

Expansions

A first capacity expansion was conducted in 2004-08. The first expansion added capacity of about 3 mtpa.

A second expansion project began in 2011. The second project consisted of a fifth storage tank and a second berthing jetty. The second jetty was completed in January 2017. Construction on the fifth storage tank began in 2015, and is expected to be completed in 2018. It is unclear how much capacity the expansion project will add in total.

According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, in December of 2019 construction was underway for additional storage capacity.

Transshipment of Russian LNG

The fifth LNG storage tank, with a capacity of 180,000 cubic metres of LNG, started operations in 2020 to serve a long-term contract agreed in 2015 between Zeebrugge LNG Terminal and Russia's Yamal Trade for the delivery of LNG from the Yamal LNG Terminal in Siberia for worldwide transshipments from Zeebrugge. Fluxys said that up to 8 million tonnes of Russian LNG per year could be transshipped at Zeebrugge. A report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) in March 2022 noted that almost 90% of the total Yamal LNG exports that were transshipped at Zeebrugge since 2021 have been sent to non-European markets. Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz, IEEFA's Europe energy analyst and author of the report, commented: "Fluxys and its shareholders have profited by facilitating Russian exports of LNG to Asian, South American and Middle East markets, especially during the winter months. It's exacerbated the European energy crisis and is contributing to the profit margins of Russian fossil fuel projects." A report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in April 2022 calculated that, with €717 million from LNG imports, Zeebrugge was the sixth ranked port globally for the value of Russian fossil fuel shipments received in the first two months since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

2024 Expansion

In February 2021, Fluxys took a final investment decision on expanding the terminal's capacity.

In December 2021, it was announced that the Lithuanian MT Group had secured a €14 million (US$15.9 million) contract from Fluxys to expand the terminal's capacity, with onsite work expected to start in February 2022. MT Group said the expansion work was also aimed at significantly abating greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.

In April 2022, MT Group said it had completed preparatory work for the terminal expansion and that construction work was progressing.

In early January 2024, the expansion came online, according to the February 2024 ICIS LNG Global Supply & Demand Outlook. The expansion comprised three new open rack vaporizers.

2024 Expansion project details

• Owner: Fluxys LNG SA (100%)
• Location: Zeebrugge, Bruges Arrondissement, West Flanders Province, Belgium
• Coordinates: 51.353, 3.22241 (exact)
• Capacity: 4.7 mtpa, 6.4 bcm/y
• Status: Operating
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 2024
• FID Status: Approved
• Associated Infrastructure: Dunkirk Zeebrugge Pipeline, Dunkirk LNG Terminal

2026 Expansion Project Details

• Owner: Fluxys LNG SA (100%)
• Location: Zeebrugge, Bruges Arrondissement, West Flanders Province, Belgium
• Coordinates: 51.353, 3.22241 (exact)
• Capacity: 1.3 mtpa, 1.8 bcm/y
• Status: Construction
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 2026
• FID Status: Approved
• Associated Infrastructure: Dunkirk Zeebrugge Pipeline, Dunkirk LNG Terminal

Expansion project costs

In the Fluxys Belgium and Fluxys LNG ten year investment plan, published in February 2021, there is a budget line of €116 million for the planned regasification expansions as well as for a new LNG truck loading dock.