UK to get Norwegian LNG cargo as imports nosedive

The UK is expected to receive a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Statoil’s Hammerfest liquefaction plant in Norway this week.

The 140,000-cbm Arctic Discoverer, owned by K-Line and chartered by Statoil, is expected into the UK’s Grain LNG terminal on August 2, according to the marine data provider VesselsValue.

Worth mentioning, National Grid’s Grain LNG terminal in Kent recently also received the UK’s first LNG cargo sourced from US shale gas onboard the 159,800-cbm Maran Gas Mystras.

The LNG terminal has the capacity to handle 15 million tons of LNG per year, an equivalent of 20 percent of the UK’s demand.

Besides the Grain LNG terminal, the UK imports the chilled fuel via its two import facilities in the port of Milford Haven, namely Dragon LNG and the South Hook terminal which takes most of the country’s LNG volumes.

These terminals receive the bulk of their LNG from the world’s largest LNG exporter, Qatar.

LNG imports drop

UK LNG imports have significantly dropped in the first six months this year as compared to the same period in 2016.

They were down 46 percent on the first half of 2016, despite rapid growth in global LNG supply. Imports were at the lowest level since the opening of the South Hook and Dragon LNG terminals in 2009, consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in a report.

The fall in LNG imports was driven in part by high LNG prices and strong demand in the Asian market. This has in turn affected LNG imports from Qatar, the UK’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said last week.

“The fall in LNG was largely driven by a notably low import volume in May 2017, which coincided with high demand from the Asian market for Qatar gas along with other European countries,” BEIS said.

Qatari LNG import volumes almost halved in May on year to 8.5 TWh, the data shows.

These volumes coincide with lower UK gas demand and the suspension of gas injections into the Rough storage facility, BEIS added.

LNG World News Staff