NextDecade Cork FSRU

Part of the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project.

Download full dataset

Report an error

NextDecade Cork FSRU, also known as Inisfree LNG Terminal and Cork FSRU, is a cancelled (confirmed) LNG import terminal in Ireland.

Location

Table 1: Location details

Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
NextDecade Cork FSRU	Cork, Ireland	51.831398, -8.322984 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the terminal:

Loading map...

Project Details

Table 2: Infrastructure details

mtpa = million tonnes per year

Name	Facility type	Status	Capacity	Total terminal capacity	Offshore	Associated infrastructure
NextDecade Cork FSRU	import	cancelled (confirmed)	3 mtpa	3.0 mtpa	True	–

Table 3: Cost

Name	Facility type	Cost	Total known terminal costs
NextDecade Cork FSRU	import	US$136,250,000 (125,000,000 EUR)	US$136,250,000

Financing

No financing data available.

Table 4: Project timeline

FID = Final Investment Decision, used by some developers to indicate a project will move forward

Name	Facility type	Status	Proposal year	FID year	Construction year	Operating year	Inactive year
NextDecade Cork FSRU	import	cancelled (confirmed)	2017	–	–	–	2021 (cancelled)

Ownership

Table 5: Ownership

Name	Facility type	Status	Owners	Parent companies	Operator
NextDecade Cork FSRU	import	cancelled (confirmed)	NextDecade LNG LLC	NextDecade Corp	–

Background

In 2017, the Port of Cork signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with US company NextDecade and its partners to explore a joint development opportunity for a new Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) and associated LNG import terminal infrastructure in the Port of Cork, Ireland. The LNG would be sourced from Next Decade’s proposed Rio Grande LNG Terminal facility at the Port of Brownsville in South Texas. The company uses fracking in some of its explorations. If the FSRU project proceeds it would turn the imported LNG into gas and pump it to the nearby Whitegate power station for distribution through the national network.

Opposition

In November of 2019, the Port of Cork faced calls to cut ties with NextDecade, following a near-unanimous vote by city councillors in support of a Green Party motion calling on councillors to write to the Port of Cork and the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and the Environment, Richard Bruton, to formally request that they cease any work to develop facilities in the harbour to “enable the importation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) extracted using hydraulic fracturing".

By November of 2019, the grassroots opposition group Not Here Not Anywhere had collected over 2,000 signatures via an online petition opposing construction of the terminal.

In October 2020, Ireland's Green Party members sought to stop the project's development as well as any further oil and gas exploration off the Cork coast, but their attempts failed. Green Party councillor Alan O'Connor had sought to have the ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure and exploration enshrined in the forthcoming Cork County Development Plan, which is a blueprint currently being drawn up for development in the region for the next six years.

The project's memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed in 2017, expired in December 2020. In January 2021, Ireland's Environmental Minister announced that the MoU would not by renewed, essentially cancelling the project.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of LNG terminals, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.