Shell to Build Gibraltar Terminal

Gibraltar’s government announced August 22 that it signed an agreement with Shell for the supply of LNG, including construction of a small regasification unit that will receive, store and regasify LNG arriving by ship for use in Gibraltar’s gas-fired power plant, which is already under construction next to the port.

Gasnor, a wholly-owned Norwegian subsidiary of Shell, will operate the terminal – which will include a berth for a small LNG carrier that will supply at night, minimising disruption to the neighbouring port, airport and housing. The government statement added that there is also potential for LNG bunkering operations in the future, following the appropriate environmental assessments and safeguards.

Chief minister Fabian Picardo said that the project represented “a massive advance... in respect of guaranteeing the integrity and security of electrical supply for Gibraltar for the next 30 years."

Shell Integrated Gas chief Maarten Wetselaar said that the signing, on August 19, showed that “once again, small-scale projects can deliver big benefits and bring more clean-burning gas to the markets that want it.”

The government said that, following the recent approval of a "robust" environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, construction of the regasification unit is planned to start towards the end of 2016, with commissioning and first delivery of LNG expected to take place ahead of the start-up of the power plant, expected during 2H 2017.

Gibraltar, on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, is a British overseas territory that is part of the UK (Photo credit: John Cummings)

Gibraltar's main opposition party, the Gibraltar Social Democrats, however said it had "yet to see in the public domain anything definitive that makes the present plans acceptably safe, let alone increasing activity with future bunkering,” according to a report in daily newspaper Gibraltar Chronicle.

GSD said a collision last month between the nuclear submarine HMS Ambush and an oil bunkering vessel meant that "the public must be assured that there is no increasing risk from these port operations." 

The Port of Gibraltar conducted its first two LNG ship-to-ship transfers safely in March 2015. 

Regasification capacity and cost details for the new terminal were disclosed by either Gibraltar, Gasnor or Shell. The latter however said storage capacity will be 5,000m³, made up of five stainless steel tanks, each of 1,000 m³. A Shell spokesman added that the terminal will be resupplied with LNG roughly twice per month and would regasify as per the needs of the power plant. 

Mark Smedley