Teesside GasPort FSRU

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Teesside GasPort FSRU Terminal was a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) liquified natural gas (LNG) import terminal located near Middlesbrough in the United Kingdom (UK). It was the first dockside floating LNG terminal in the world when it was commissioned in 2007.

In March 2022, energy trading giant Trafigura announced it was "actively looking" at reopening the terminal.

Location

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Project details

• Operator:
• Owner: Trafigura
• Parent company: Trafigura
• Vessel: Excelsior
• Vessel operator:
• Vessel owner: Excelerate Energy
• Vessel parent company: Excelerate Energy
• Location: Middlesbrough, UK
• Coordinates: 54.57423, -1.23496 (exact)
• Capacity: 3 mtpa, 4 bcm/y
• Status: Retired (2015)
• Type: Import
• Start year: 2007

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcm/y = billion cubic meters per year

Background

Teesside GasPort FSRU Terminal was a dockside floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) located near Middlesbrough, UK. Teeside GasPort was placed in service in February 2007 and, according to project owner Excelerate Energy, was decommissioned in 2015 "after the facility came to the end of its commercially viable life." During its operation, Teesside GasPort was used to regasify imports of LNG for delivery into the National Transmission System (NTS), with a jetty capable of accepting LNG carriers with a capacity up to 150,900 m³. However, it received few shipments during its operating life.

Recommissioned Project

• Operator:
• Owner: Trafigura
• Parent company: Trafigura
• FSRU:
• FSRU operator:
• FSRU owner:
• FSRU parent company:
• Location: Middlesbrough, UK
• Coordinates: 54.57423, -1.23496 (exact)
• Capacity: 6 bcm/y (former capacity, while operating)
• Status: Proposed
• Type: Import
• Cost:
• Start year:

Note: mtpa = million tonnes per year; bcm/y = billion cubic meters per year

In February 2017, Trafigura announced it had entered into a long-term lease with landowner and port authority PD Ports and planned to invest US$30 million to recommission the terminal to accept deliveries as early as the summer of 2018.

According to the International Group of Liquefied Natural Gas Importers' 2020 Annual Report, the terminal is awaiting recommissioning.

In March 2022, as the UK and Europe raced to reduce their reliance on Russian energy, Trafigura said it was "actively looking" at reopening the terminal in the north-east of England, adding that it had been waiting for the "right market window" to do so. The Swiss company told the Press Association (PA) that "in the current market conditions we are seeing unprecedented interest in establishing Teesside as a major import terminal of LNG into the UK". While no potential start up date was disclosed, Trafigura said, “All substantive technical design and permitting work has been completed to allow the project that includes using a FSRU (floating storage regasification unit) to be constructed.” According to PA, the plan could "open another route for gas from the Middle East or the US into the UK, and onwards to Europe," and the potential maximum capacity of the new project could be "as much as 600 million cubic feet of gas a day," the equivalent of approximately 6 bcm/y.

In April 2023, Energy Intelligence reported that Trafigura was still considering relaunching the FSRU project. While the UK's Energy Security Plan, released a month prior, notes that gas will play a "declining but still significant role," an analyst at a trader told Energy Intelligence, “I can’t see a need for FSRUs in the UK. There is already plenty of regasification capacity which is at risk of limited export to continental capacity.”