France’s Dunkirk LNG import terminal will reduce sendout to the grid on Thursday due to a strike against the government’s pension reform.
According to transparency data by Dunkerque LNG, the operator of the Dunkirk LNG facility led by Fluxys, the delivery capacity will be reduced to 70 GWh/d.
The terminal’s maximum capacity is about 520 GWh/day.
The force majeure will start on Thursday at 06:00 CET and will last for 24 hours, the data shows.
Fluxys confirmed on Thursday that the strike at the Dunkirk LNG terminal has resumed for a period of 24 hours.
“The sendout of the terminal will be reduced during this period. No other impacts are expected (ship unloading, truck loading, maintenance),” the firm said.
Dunkerque LNG first declared force majeure due to the strike on March 7.
During March 7-17, the terminal’s jetty and the truck loading station were unavailable, while the delivery capacity was reduced to the “minimum”.
The terminal resumed operations on March 17 but its sendout was reduced to 70 GWh/day during March 23-24.
Moreover, the strike resumed again on March 28 for a period of 24 hours with limited sendout to the grid, and the LNG terminal resumed normal operations on February 29.
Fluxys said on March 6 that the strike resumed until March 7.
Dunkerque LNG’s data shows that the facility gradually ramped up activities since then. The terminal reached maximum sendout to the grid on April 11.
Dunkerque LNG owners include two groups with the first consortium led by Belgium’s Fluxys holding a 61 percent stake.
Commissioned in 2017, the LNG terminal has an annual regasification capacity of 13 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
Previous shareholders EDF and TotalEnergies are the main customers of the LNG terminal through 20-year contracts.
Elengy’s LNG terminals
Elengy, a unit of Engie’s GRTgaz, operates the Fos Tonkin and Fos Cavaou LNG terminals on the Mediterranean coast and the Montoir-de-Bretagne facility on the Atlantic coast.
These terminals have a combined capacity of some 21.5 bcm per year.
Elengy said on March 6 that the company’s three LNG facilities will not provide any services due to the strike of its staff.
After that, the workers extended the strike until March 21 and once again to March 28.
LNG Prime contacted Elengy to comment on the situation at the company’s terminals.
A spokeswoman for Elengy only said that the updated aggregated monthly nominations are available online on the company’s website.
According to the data on Wednesday, there is still no sendout activity at the Fos Cavaou LNG terminal.
However, Elengy started posting sendout quantities for both the Montoir-de-Bretagne facility and the Fos Tonkin terminal on April 5.
The aggregated nominated quantities on Wednesday were at 141 GWh per day for both of the terminals, the data shows.
(Article updated on Thursday, April 13, to add a statement by Fluxys.)