El Musel LNG Terminal

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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El Musel LNG Terminal is a retired liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Asturias, Spain. Although construction on the LNG terminal was completed in October 2012, it was immediately mothballed and has not been placed in operation.

Location

It is located in Gijon, Asturias, Spain.

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Project Details

• Parent: Enagás
• Location: Gijon, Asturias, Spain
• Coordinates: 43.5696, -5.6934 (exact)
• Capacity: 5.4 mtpa, 0.77 bcfd
• Status: Retired
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 2012
• Retired Year: 2012

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

Background

In April 2008, Fluor announced it was awarded a contract worth approximately $320 million for the engineering, procurement, and construction management of the facility by Enagás. Construction began in 2008, with a planned commissioning date in 2011. It contained two storage tanks with a capacity of 150,000 m³ each, seawater vaporizers and ancillary equipment, and unloading arms capable of discharging 18,000 m³ per hour.

In March 2012, El Musel LNG Terminal was mothballed following a legal decree and depressed demand for natural gas. Accordingly, after construction was completed in October 2012, the facility was put into hibernation.

In February 2017, Enagás was exploring alternative options to utilize the El Musel LNG Terminal, in which it had already invested more than €380 million, such as using it as a gas storage and logistics hub. Enagás stated that "the project complies with all current regulations in force and is pre-commissioned and maintained to guarantee a minimum start-up cost and deadline."

Opposition

In March 2016, the Supreme Court of Spain issued a decision upholding the High Court of Justice of Madrid's July 2013 decision rejecting the Ministry of Industry's authorization to construct the LNG terminal. At issue was a 1961 regulation that prevents the construction of facilities posing a health and safety risk within 2 kilometers of villages. As a consequence of the Supreme Court's ruling, Enagás would have been required to go through the authorization process from the beginning prior to commissioning the LNG terminal.

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, "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."