France’s Dunkirk LNG terminal back on track, 2nd comissioning cargo coming from Peru

Image courtesy of Dunkirk LNG
Image courtesy of Dunkerque LNG

France’s fourth LNG import terminal in the port of Dunkirk (Dunkerque) has resumed activities following  an incident last week which led to the evacuation of the terminal’s workers.

The Dunkirk LNG terminal, that is currently in commissioning phase, was put into safe conditions last Monday due to “LNG presence in the flare, causing LNG projections at the ground level.”

Since then, access to the terminal’s site had been restricted to personnel needed for the operation of the import facility but has now been “re-opened to all personnel and contractors,” Dunkerque LNG, the operator of the LNG import facility said in a statement on Friday.

“Since Wednesday 27 July at 7:00pm, the ‘safe-state’ at the site has been lifted. Vents to control pressure in the storage tanks, which had been opened according to normal operational procedures, have now been closed; gas is no longer being emitted into the atmosphere but instead sent to the flare to be burned. The three tanks have been constantly kept in a stationary state, and all three are now being ‘cooled’ with LNG,” Dunkerque LNG said.

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.”

Send-out tests to the French gas grid, operated by GRTgaz, will resume once this issue has been fixed.

The potential impact on the terminal’s start-up schedule is still being evaluated, Dunkerque LNG said.

Dunkirk LNG received its first commissioning cargo on July 8 onboard the 135,243-cbm LNG carrier Madrid Spirit.

The second commissioning cargo is expected to arrive at the LNG import terminal on August 7 onboard the 145,000-cbm Methane Rita Andrea. The LNG tanker is carrying a cargo from Peru’s Pampa Melchorita LNG export plant, data by the Port of Dunkirk shows.

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