Dutch Gate gets first cargo from NFE’s Altamira LNG terminal in Mexico

The 138,000-cbm Energos Princess delivered the maiden cargo from Altamira to the LNG terminal owned by Gasunie and Vopak.

Energos Princess was unloading its cargo to the Gate terminal on Tuesday, Gate’s commercial manager, Stefaan Adriaens, told LNG Prime.

“Well timed ahead of the winter it feels great for Gate to once again contribute to the security of supply of North Western Europe with this new and innovative supply chain,” Adriaens said.

He also noted that “some years ago” a reloaded LNG cargo went from Gate to Altamira.

The Gate terminal has a nameplate capacity of 12 bcm or 8.8 mtpa of LNG, three LNG storage tanks with a capacity of 540,000 cbm, as well as three jetties, including one small-scale jetty.

Following modifications, Gate managed to add 4 bcm of capacity on an interruptible basis, available to users already having a position in Gate.

Gate’s current users include Uniper, Shell, OMV, and Glencore. Last year, BP and PetroChina booked capacity at Gate as part of the terminal’s expansion project, while ConocoPhillips secured capacity from September 2031.

Gasunie and Vopak took a final investment decision in August 2023 to build the fourth LNG tank with a capacity of 180,000 cbm and to add 4 bcm of additional regasification capacity.

First full LNG cargo

US LNG firm NFE said on October 30 that it had shipped the first full LNG cargo from its FLNG project off Mexico’s Altamira to Europe.

In August, NFE resumed LNG production at its Fast LNG 1 asset off Altamira after completing scheduled maintenance.

This planned outage followed the first partial LNG cargo which occurred on August 9.

NFE loaded the partial cargo onboard Energos Princess for delivery to its La Paz, Mexico terminal.

Last month, NFE’s LNG project off Altamira secured approval from the US DOE to ship LNG cargoes produced from US natural gas to non-free trade agreement nations.

NFE’s proprietary Fast LNG design pairs the latest advancements in modular liquefaction technology with jack up rigs or similar offshore infrastructure to enable a faster deployment schedule than traditional liquefaction facilities.

The company previously said the FLNG project adds more than $2 billion of infrastructure to its asset base.

NFE sent its liquefaction rig Pioneer II to Altamira on September 26, 2023, to start serving the FLNG project.

Prior to this, NFE’s utilities and accommodation rig, Pioneer III, and the gas treatment rig arrived off Altamira.

The FLNG project consists of three rigs, Pioneer I, II, and III.

Besides the three rigs, the 160,000-cbm Penguin FSU serves the project as a floating storage unit.

In addition to this project, NFE closed in July its previously announced $700 million loan for its second FLNG unit which it aims to install onshore in Altamira.