The First Floating LNG Terminal in France Goes Operational
The French city of Le Havre has seen the inauguration of the first floating terminal for receiving liquefied natural gas, named FSRU Cape Ann. This announcement comes from TotalEnergies, the company in charge of the facility.
"The terminal injected its initial megawatt-hours of gas into the network using liquefied natural gas from Norway," the company's press release stated.
TotalEnergies has secured a contract for the utilization of half of the terminal's annual capacity in Le Havre. The remaining capacity will be made available for sale in compliance with regulatory guidelines.
This terminal marks the fifth facility dedicated to handling liquefied natural gas in France, but it distinguishes itself by being a floating terminal. The other four are terrestrial installations, located in Fos-sur-Mer and Montoir-de-Bretagne, along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts, respectively, as well as Dunkirk, near the North Sea. The combined capacity of these four terminals is approximately 26.8 million tons per year.
Key specifications of the floating FSRU Cape Ann terminal include:
- Maximum capacity: 5 billion cubic meters per year, equivalent to 10% of France's total natural gas consumption.
- Gas storage capacity: 142,500 cubic meters.
- Dimensions: Length - 283 meters, Width - 43.4 meters.
- Deadweight: 112,457 tons.
- Year of construction: 2010.
- Flag: France.
On October 24, it was announced that Qatar would supply gas to Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, and France, filling the gap left by the cessation of Russian energy supplies. Notably, Italian company Eni signed a long-term gas supply agreement with Qatar on October 23. Preliminary agreements were also reached with the Netherlands, France, and Germany, each of which will receive 3.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from this Middle Eastern country until 2050.
This development ensures that the energy crisis in Europe, which arose due to the conflict in Ukraine and the abrupt reduction in Russian gas deliveries in 2022, is no longer a looming threat. European countries will collectively receive 27 million tons of LNG in the 2030s, equivalent to 3 billion cubic meters of gas or a quarter of the previous Russian gas volumes. In addition to Qatar, the European Union is also receiving gas from the United States.