Enagas to kick off open season for El Musel LNG services

Spanish LNG terminal operator Enagas plans to launch next week a non-binding open season for logistics services at its El Musel liquefied natural gas terminal in Gijon.

Enagas said in a statement it held an event with marketers and regulatory authorities on Thursday at its headquarters in Madrid and will launch the open season on March 6.

“Thus, the process of contracting capacity to provide logistics services at the terminal begins, which is a milestone for the start of commercial operations,” it said.

El Musel is part of the Spanish government’s plan aimed at boosting energy security and thus will play an “important role” in strengthening Europe’s security of energy supply.

In July last year, the terminal received the administrative authorization from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge.

Furthermore, El Musel LNG terminal received approval on February 17 from the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) for its special economic regime as a logistics facility, a necessary step to begin the process of assigning logistics services, Enagas said.

“The approval process for the terminal is in its final stage and only the final formalities are pending,” the firm said.

Non-binding phase

The process for contracting capacity will begin with a non-binding phase.

In this phase, trading companies will be able to express their interest in the logistics services offered by this infrastructure for LNG unloading, storage, and loading operations, on an unregulated access basis.

After this, Enagas will launch a binding phase in which marketers will bid for the capacity and the process will end with the allocation of long-term logistics services.

Under the regulated access regime, El Musel terminal will only offer the essential regasification service for the proper management of the terminal, as well as the tank loading service, it said.

According to Enagas, the facility, which has been in hibernation since its completion in 2013, could contribute up to 8 bcm of LNG capacity per year to Europe’s security of energy supply.

It will allow the berthing of vessels with a capacity of between 50,000 and 266,000 cbm.

Also, the LNG terminal has two tanks each with a capacity of 150,000 cbm and two tanker loading bays with a capacity to load a maximum of 9 GWh/d, and a maximum emission capacity of 800,000 Nm3/h.

Enagas recently entered into a deal to sell a 25 percent stake in the LNG terminal to compatriot Reganosa for 95 million euros ($100.9 million).

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