BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.29. Many of the new regasification projects in Europe can be developed relatively quickly by chartering Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs) and by building pipelines to transport regasified natural gas to connecting pipelines onshore, Trend reports Nov.29 with reference to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Other regasification projects in Europe will expand capacity at the existing onshore terminals and implement upgrades to increase existing terminals' throughput.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) will expand by 34%, or 6.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), by 2024 compared with 2021, according to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers (GIIGNL) and trade press data. Expansions of import, or regasification, capacity will total 5.3 Bcf/d by the end of next year and grow further by an additional 1.5 Bcf/d by the end of 2024.
LNG regasification capacity in the EU-27 and the UK remained relatively stable and expanded modestly in the last 10 years, by 2.8 Bcf/d (16%), from 17.5 Bcf/d in 2012 to 20.2 Bcf/d at the end of 2021, according to data from GIIGNL.
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February 2022 and the reduction in natural gas pipeline imports from Russia that followed, European countries have reactivated development of previously dormant regasification projects and have started development of new projects.
So far this year, approximately 1.7 Bcf/d of the new and expanded LNG regasification capacity has been added in the Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Italy, and Germany. The new EemsEnergy terminal in the Netherlands (0.8 Bcf/d capacity) consists of two FSRU vessels and received its first import cargo in September 2022. A new FSRU terminal at Wilhelmshaven Port in Germany (0.7 Bcf/d capacity) has been completed in November 2022.
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