Rotterdam Sees Surge in H1 LNG Imports

The Dutch port of Rotterdam registered a 93.9% increase in LNG imports in the first half of 2019, thanks to a surge in supplies arriving from the US, the port authority said on July 25.

Rotterdam’s Gate terminal took ashore 3.8mn mt of LNG in the six months, up from 1.98mn mt a year earlier. In its half-year report, the port authority attributed the growth to a smaller price differential between European and Asia LNG markets, which has caused US and other Atlantic Basin supplies to the former to soar.

“Given the transport costs, exports of LNG to Asia are therefore less appealing than exports to Europe, particularly for market players in the Atlantic basin,” it said.

Gate terminal is owned by Dutch gas operators Gasunie and Vopak, and is one of the largest inlets for LNG supplies into Europe. It is equipped with three 180,000-m³ storage tanks and can regasify up to 9mn mt/yr of LNG.