Le Havre FSRU
| Part of the Global Gas Infrastructure Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project. |
| Related categories: |
Le Havre FSRU Terminal is a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) terminal for LNG import in the port of Le Havre in Normandy, France.[1][2]
Location
The map below shows the approximate location of Le Havre FSRU Terminal.
Project Details
- Operator:
- Owner: TotalEnergies[3]
- Parent company: TotalEnergies[3]
- Vessel:
- Vessel operator:
- Vessel owner: TotalEnergies[3]
- Vessel parent company: TotalEnergies[3]
- Location: Port of Le Havre, Normandy, France
- Coordinates: 49.4622283932675, 0.04295842576 (approximate)
- Capacity: 5 bcm/y[4]
- Cost:
- FID status: FID
- Status: Operating[1]
- Type: Import
- Start Year: 2023[1]
- Planned Retirement Year: 2028[5]
Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcm/y = billion cubic meters per year
Background
In March 2022, the French business newspaper Les Echos reported that the French government had tasked TotalEnergies and a subsidiary of Engie with installing an FSRU terminal in the port of Le Havre in north-west France, and that talks between the government and the companies were underway. This is one of several such proposals to have appeared across Europe as a result of the war in Ukraine focusing attention on LNG to replace Russian gas supplies coming via pipeline.[6][2]
French gas system operator GRTgaz also confirmed the development, and said that realisation of the FSRU could allow France to increase its regasification capacity by almost 4.2 bcm/y and reduce its dependence on Russian gas.[7] It was also reported that a decision on the project would be taken "within weeks".[8]
In June 2022, the incoming French prime minister Elisabeth Borne announced that the Le Havre terminal would be connected in 2023 and would "cover almost 10% of French gas consumption".[9] At the beginning of July 2022, French media reported that a final investment decision on the project would be taken "in the coming weeks".[10] TotalEnergies is looking to deploy one of the two FSRUs it owns at Le Havre.[3]
In August 2022, French law no. 2022-1158 "on emergency measures for the protection of purchasing power" stated that the "operating period of the floating LNG terminal ... may not exceed five years".[11] It was also reported that the French government had formally selected TotalEnergies to install the FSRU with an import capacity of 5 bcm/year. Construction work by TotalEnergies and GRTgaz should start by the end of 2022, it was reported.[4]
As of August 2023, the project was on track to begin operations in September 2023.[12]
In October 2023, TotalEnergies announced that the project had been commissioned.[1] The project is intended to operate for five years until 2028.[5]
In March 2025, Bloomberg reported that the import terminal was lying idle with the last cargo of LNG received in June 2024. Decreased European gas demand in 2024 and high operating costs were cited as reasons for TotalEnergies' limited use of the FSRU.[13]
Opposition
In October 2022, the Climate Collective of Le Havre (Le collectif Climat du Havre) called for a public debate of the project and launched a petition in opposition to the terminal.[14]
In June 2023, a Greenpeace France investigation found that the facility was not needed for France's energy security needs, that France already had sufficient LNG import capacity, and that the project was inconsistent with the country's climate and environmental commitments.[15]
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Offshore Energy. TotalEnergies commissions LNG FSRU in Le Havre. October 26, 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 France wants to build floating LNG terminal at Le Havre – Les Echos, Reuters, Mar. 26, 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Stuart Elliott, France's TotalEnergies eyes FSRU deployment at German port of Lubmin, S&P Global, Jul. 15, 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 France selects TotalEnergies to install a 5 bcm/year FSRU in Le Havre, Enerdata, Aug. 2, 2022
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Havre floating LNG terminal connected up to the French gas transport network | grtgaz.com". www.grtgaz.com. Retrieved 2024-11-27.
- ↑ Vincent Collen, Claire Garnier, La France va se doter d'un nouveau terminal d'importation de gaz liquéfié, Les Echos, Mar. 26, 2022
- ↑ European Natural Gas Prices Strong on Weather, Russian Supply, Moving Above Asia Spot Price France wants to build floating LNG terminal at Le Havre – Les Echos, Natural Gas Intelligence, Apr. 1, 2022
- ↑ Sophie Tetrel, France to decide “within weeks” on new LNG terminal, Montel, Mar. 29, 2022
- ↑ Paul Messad, France to examine gas tariff shield ‘in the coming days’, Euractiv, Jun. 23, 2022
- ↑ Antoine Vermeersch, Ce que l'on sait du futur terminal flottant d'importation de gaz naturel liquéfié au Havre, L'Usine Nouvelle, Jul. 1, 2022
- ↑ "https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000046186723". www.legifrance.gouv.fr. Retrieved 2022-09-06.
{{cite web}}: External link in|title= - ↑ LNG Prime Staff (2023-08-31). "TotalEnergies nears launch of Le Havre FSRU terminal". LNG Prime. Retrieved 2023-09-16.
- ↑ Elena Mazneva and Anna Shiryaevskaya, Total’s French LNG terminal lies idle despite high gas demand, Bloomberg, Mar. 18, 2025
- ↑ Contre le projet de terminal méthanier flottant dans le port du Havre, des opposants réclament un débat public. France Bleu. October 17, 2022.
- ↑ Greenpeace. Floating LNG terminal in Le Havre: Symbol of a Drifting Climate and Energy Policy. June 2023.
