If Gasunie could create a floating LNG terminal, it could help safeguard Dutch and EU energy security. “We sent our plan to the Dutch minister of climate and energy,” he says.
It is in Groningen province, the location of Europe’s biggest natural gas field, so it already has the infrastructure to pump gas to the rest of the country and to neighbouring Germany. When Shell and Cez committed last May to 7bcm a year at Eamshaven, Gasunie began turning the quay into its hub. Eamshaven is sometimes hit with fierce winds, so the FSRUs needed tugs and heavy anchors to lash them firmly against the quays.Even before Russia cut off its pipeline gas supplies last year, the EU was already rushing to find alternative energy sources and build the infrastructure needed for them.
Dozens of LNG facilities were commissioned across the EU, with five new terminals coming online in Germany alone.