The Czech Republic, in cooperation with utility groupČEZ, has secured a lease on a share (together with the necessary transport capacity to import liquified natural gas) of a new floating LNG terminal in Eemashaven, the Netherlands, which was inaugurated last week.
The new supply route for the land-locked country in the region will ensure 3 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas per annum, which will enable Czechia to cut its dependence on Russia’s gas by up to a third, as confirmed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The first LNG deliveries to the Czech Republic are expected later this month, following the initial announcement in July.
“We have been discussing the possibility of acquiring a stake in the LNG terminal in Holland since April of this year,” said theMinister of Industry and Trade, Jozef Síkela. “It is one of the next steps thanks to which we are gradually getting rid of energy dependence on Russia. In this case, natural gas supplies will replace up to a third of our gas consumption. This is a historic moment for the energy security of the Czech Republic because we have never had a share in an LNG terminal.”
The new LNG terminal, with a total annual capacity of 8 bcm of gas, was built in a record short time at the port of Eemshaven in the province of Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. LNG will be delivered to the terminal on specially modified tankers, which subsequently will heat and convert it into a gaseous state. This gas will then be fed from the terminal into the gas transport pipelines and will move through them to the destination.
The terminal consists of two floating storage and regasification units (FSRU): Exmar S188 and Golar Igloo. Alongside with ČEZ group, the terminals will also be used by Shell from the Netherlands and ENGIE from France.
The Czech Republic imports around 9 bcm of natural gas per year, which had predominantly come from Russia. As part of the RePowerEU strategy, the EU’s gas storage reserves have now been filled by 82.5 per cent of their capacity, ahead of the 1 November deadline set in the RePowerEU’s gas storage regulation.
