LNG throughput in the Dutch port of Rotterdam rose by 9.8 percent in the first half of this year, boosted by volumes from the US.
The port, home to Gasunie’s and Vopak’s Gate LNG import terminal, said that total LNG throughput reached 5.94 million tonnes in the first half, compared to 5.41 million tonnes in the January-June period last year.
In the first quarter of this year, total LNG throughput reached 3.01 million tonnes, up by 14.3 percent.
Incoming LNG volumes rose 10.1 percent in the January-June period to 5.85 million tonnes, while outgoing volumes dropped by 6.6 percent to 86,000 tonnes, according to the Rotterdam port’s report.
The port said that most of the LNG supplies, or 62 percent, came from the US.
Total LNG throughput in the port reached 11.49 million tonnes in 2022, compared to 7 million tonnes in the year before.
As previously reported by LNG Prime, Dutch Gate LNG terminal received a record number of LNG cargoes last year on the back of high demand and a surge in US deliveries.
Gate unloaded a total of 183 LNG cargoes, mainly from large LNG carriers, while the facility loaded 84 cargoes, mainly to small vessels.
BP and a unit of PetroChina recently agreed to book long-term capacity at the Gate terminal.
The two firms will each acquire 2 Bcm per year of regasification and also corresponding storage capacity for a period of 20 years.
At the end of 2022, Gate terminal organized an open season to gauge market interest in new storage capacity of 180,000 cubic meters of LNG as well as a regasification capacity increase of 4 Bcm per year.
Gate now has three LNG tanks and with the fourth tank it will have 720,000 cbm of storage capacity, while its regasification capacity will rise to 20 Bcm per year.
Gate expects to take the final investment decision to build the fourth tank by September 1 this year.