France’s first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Le Havre has started delivering natural gas supplies to the grid, according to TotalEnergies.
TotalEnergies announced the commissioning of the 2010-built 145,130-cbm FSRU Cape Ann in a statement on Thursday.
“The terminal injected its first megawatt-hours (MWh) of gas into the grid operated by GRTgaz, using LNG from Norway,” the firm said.
TotalEnergies charters this 283 meters long vessel from Hoegh LNG, which has a 50 percent stake in Cape Ann and Japan’s MOL, which owns a 48.5 percent stake. Tokyo LNG Tanker holds a 1.5 percent share in the unit.
LNG Prime reported on September 12 that the FSRU took a cargo off Gibraltar via a ship-to-ship operation with the LNG carrier Seapeak Arwa.
Prior to that, Seapeak Arwa loaded the shipment at Equinor’s Hammerfest LNG export plant in Norway where TotalEnergies has a stake.
Following this transfer, Cape Ann berthed on September 18 at the “Bougainville Sud” dock in the Le Havre port.
LNG carrier to arrive in November
TotalEnergies has contracted 50 percent of the Le Havre terminal’s annual capacity of around 5 billion cubic meters, to supply it with LNG from its global portfolio.
The remaining capacity will be marketed according to rules approved by the regulator, it said.
A spokesperson for TotalEnergies told LNG Prime on Thursday that the terminal is ready to start commercial operations.
“TotalEnergies LNG Services France is preparing delivery of the first commercial LNG cargo scheduled in November,” the spokesperson said.
This is France’s first FSRU-based facility and the fifth LNG import terminal.
France currently hosts four onshore LNG terminals with a capacity of about 26.8 mtpa. These are Elengy’s Fos Tonkin, Fos Cavaou, and Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminals, and also the Dunkirk LNG facility.