Fluxys Points to Belgian Grid's Flexibility
Fluxys Belgium group, Belgium's national gas grid operator, transported more gas in 2015 but a 7% regulatory cut in transportation tariffs early last year – maintained into 2016 -- meant its net profit increased by just 1.1% to €61.1mn.
In annual results released late on March 30, it said gas volumes transported were up by 9.6% year-on-year for Belgium and up 1.1% for transit gas. The trend in trucks filled with LNG was also up.
Fluxys said its Belgian grid became entirely bidirectional since November 2015 as, thanks to two new pipelines in France and Belgium, gas can now physically flow in both directions to/from Netherlands, Germany and UK. This was already true of Luxembourg, with which the Belgian market became fully integrated since October 2015 – the first ever market integration between two EU states.
A more flexible European gas grid will help now that production from the giant Dutch Groningen gas field is half its 2013 level, with exports likely to be reined back harder, and given the long-term decline in UK gas output. Fluxys is the largest shareholder in the UK-Belgium gas interconnector.
Traded volume on the two Belgian gas trading hubs -- Zeebrugge Beach (up 6%) and ZTP (up 45%) -- increased sharply last year; total 2015 traded volume was 86.5bn m3 (930 terawatt-hours of gas). Both hubs are Fluxys-run.
One-third of the €188mn invested by Fluxys Belgium was at its Zeebrugge terminal, in particular building a second jetty which will be equipped to handle not only large but also very small tankers. It will be commissioned this year. The remaining two-thirds went on pipeline infrastructure.
The Zeebrugge LNG terminal unloaded 41 ships, loaded 28 ships (compared to 34 and 19 respectively in 2014) although most loaded, especially last year, were small ones. The terminal also filled 1,184 road trucks in 2015 and foresees strong growth in this small-scale sector.
Fluxys LNG in March 2015 concluded a 20-year contract with Yamal Trade allowing it to use Zeebrugge for the trans-shipment of up to 8mn metric tons/yr of LNG.
This week Fluxys signed a framework agreement with Gazprom to collaborate on small-scale LNG projects in Europe – a similar accord was signed by Gazprom and Dutch Gasunie in July 2015.
Mark Smedley