Belgium’s Zeebrugge terminal gets first Golden Pass LNG cargo

The 174,000-cbm LNG carrier Al Qaiyyah, chartered by QatarEnergy, arrived at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal on Friday, according to the Zeebrugge port data and its AIS data.

After unloading the LNG cargo, Al Qaiyyah is expected to depart the facility on Saturday.

Last month, Golden Pass LNG, a joint venture owned by energy giants QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, shipped the first cargo of LNG produced from the first liquefaction train at its facility in Texas.

Al Qaiyyah started signaling Zeebrugge as its final destination since it departed the Golden Pass LNG export plant.

QatarEnergy has previously booked long-term regasification capacity at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal.

The Golden Pass LNG export facility is also expected to ship its second cargo soon, following the arrival of the 174,000-cbm HL Sea Eagle, owned by H-Line Shipping and chartered by ExxonMobil.

The Golden Pass LNG export terminal is the 10th such facility in the US.

It has three liquefaction trains with a total capacity of 18.1 million tons per year, five 155,000 cbm LNG storage tanks, and two marine berths to accommodate the world’s largest LNG carriers.

State-owned QatarEnergy, whose LNG and other facilities in Ras Laffan were attacked last in March, owns a 70 percent stake in the Golden Pass project and will offtake 70 percent of the capacity, while US energy firm ExxonMobil has a 30 percent share.

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods recently said that the company expects the second liquefaction train at the Golden Pass LNG export terminal to be mechanically complete by the end of this year.