Fluxys Zeebrugge 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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Fluxys Zeebrugge LNG Terminal is an LNG import terminal in West Flanders, Belgium.

Location

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

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Project Details

• Owner: Publigas 89.97%; Fluxys 10.03%
• Location: Zeebrugge, Bruges Arrondissement, West Flanders Province, Belgium
• Coordinates: 51.353, 3.22241 (exact)
• Capacity: 9 mtpa, 1.29 bcfd
• Status: Operating
• Type: Import
• Start Year: 1987

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

Background

Fluxys Zeebrugge LNG Terminal is a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge. It has a capacity of 9 million metric tons per year (mtpa), or 1.29 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd). 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 the Dunkirk and Fluxys Zeebrugge LNG Terminal, and allowing the LNG Dunkirk 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."

Previous 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.

Proposed Expansion Project Details

• Owner: Publigas 89.97%; Fluxys 10.03%
• Location: Zeebrugge, Bruges Arrondissement, West Flanders Province, Belgium
• Coordinates: 51.353, 3.22241 (exact)
• Capacity: 3 mtpa
• Status: Construction
• Type: Import
• Start Year:

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

Proposed Expansion

According to Food & Water Europe's 2019 profile on Belgian gas use, "Belgium would like to increase the import capacity of its Zeebrugge LNG terminal by adding another 3bcm/y of send-out capacity (12bcm/y in total). The necessity for such a project is questionable: the terminal is currently underused, at only ~12% of its capacity (average usage between December 2011 and March 2019) and the recent connection to the Dunkirk LNG Terminal brings ample capacity to the country to meet its gas needs and ensure the diversification of gas supplies. The Zeebrugge LNG project aims at building a 3rd jetty as part of the Zeebrugge LNG terminal. However, in 2017 a second Jetty was commissioned16 with a capacity for receiving small 2,000m3 vessels up to large LNG vessels with a capacity of 217.000m3. It therefore already covers the receiving capacity of the 3rd planned jetty and would not add any features to the terminal. Thus, the 3rd jetty will neither increase competition, nor security of supply, nor respond to any needs for diversification of sources in Belgium or other Member States. Fluxys is now building a 5th storage tank to provide transshipment services, notably loading LNG transported by Russian ice breaker LNG carriers from the Yamal gas field on smaller vessels. This is part of a 20-year transshipment contract."

According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, construction was underway as of December 2019.