Dunkirk LNG postpones 2nd commissioning cargo

France’s Dunkirk LNG terminal said Tuesday it has postponed its second commissioning cargo after an incident last week which led to the evacuation of the terminal’s workers.

The arrival of the second commissioning cargo “initially planned on August 7th, is postponed to the first half of September,” Dunkerque LNG, the operator of the LNG import facility said in a notice without providing additional information.

LNG World News reported on Monday, citing data by the Port of Dunkirk, that the second commissioning cargo is coming from Peru onboard the 145,000-cbm Methane Rita Andrea.

To remind, France’s fourth LNG terminal was put into safe conditions last Monday due to “LNG presence in the flare, causing LNG projections at the ground level.”

Dunkerque LNG said on Friday it had restarted operations saying that the cause of the incident has been identified. According to Dunkerque LNG, “part of the ‘levels’ instrumentation (sensors) for installations being tested (condenser) were defective, ultimately causing LNG to be sent to the flare.”

The Dunkirk LNG terminal will have an annual regasification capacity of 13 billion cbm of gas, enough to cover about 20% of France and Belgium’s yearly gas consumption.

According to the terminal operator, the construction costs for the plant itself were around €1 billion. In addition to this, €150 million was invested for the port site and €80 million to connect the LNG facility to the Pitgam compressor station.

Dunkirk LNG is 65% owned by EDF, 25% by Fluxys and 10% by Total.

LNG World News Staff