Fluxys Takes over Antwerp Port LNG Project

Belgian gas grid operator Fluxys is to develop its first fixed installation to bunker ships and barges with LNG. It is to be built at the Belgian port of Antwerp at Quay 526-528, it said April 10.

France's Engie was awarded the 30-year concession to develop the LNG bunkering facility in April 2016 by the port authority and promised it would start up by end-2017 (see banner photo above, courtesy of Engie). A Fluxys spokesperson told NGW April 12 that "nothing had been built yet" and that Engie "wanted to get out." The transfer raises doubts about Engie's commitment to invest in such infrastructure.  

Ships are already bunkered at Antwerp but using the truck-to-ship method. The new Fluxys facility there, in contrast, will include dedicated LNG storage tanks, be able to refuel ships directly, and be ready to open by end-2019. Fluxys will work closely with Belgian equipment installer G&V Energy Group, which will also build an LNG filling station for trucks on the same site.

Fluxys, which owns Belgium's 1980-opened large Zeebrugge LNG import terminal and co-owns the more recently-opened larger French LNG import terminal at nearby Dunkirk, has a clear interest in expanding the market for LNG. It declined to comment on investment costs for its new Antwerp facility, and on whether the new bunkering facility might in future be jointly or wholly owned by G&V Energy. The latter runs 180 Shell and Esso-branded motor fuel filling stations in Belgium, plus Exxon's fuel tankfarm there.

Since mid-2017, Engie has operated the LNG bunkering vessel, Engie Zeebrugge, in which it and three other partners – including Fluxys – have a 25% equity interest. It operates out of Zeebrugge and, among other clients, refuels two LNG-fuelled giant car transporter ships owned by Norway-based UECC.

The ports of Antwerp, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Zeebrugge, Bremen, Le Havre and Marseilles are collaborating under the auspices of the International Association of Ports and Harbours to develop a suitable accreditation process, known as the LNG Accreditation Audit Tool, noted Fluxys' April 10 statement. It said the first draft of this international safety standard was welcomed earlier this month in Amsterdam by a broad group of stakeholders.