Oviedo (EFE).- Enagás will be able to start operating the Gijón regasification plant in the test phase starting tomorrow, Saturday, after the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge published this Friday the order establishing the technical conditions for the operation of the infrastructure.
The Government delegate in Asturias, Delia Losa, has confirmed that the request to start test operations sent by Enagás, which had already been carrying out the preliminary work for some time, will be processed today.
A few days ago, Enagás began the binding phase of the capacity allocation process for logistics services in the terminal after the interest expressed by 16 trading companies during the non-binding phase, held in March.
As the company has pointed out in a statement, this process will end with the assignment of long-term logistics services in July, when it expects to start operating the plant.
The Government delegate celebrated the arrival of “a much-awaited and necessary moment” that will position Spain as “a benchmark at a European level” in energy matters.
Last step before start-up
The Official State Gazette (BOE) has published this Friday the order establishing the technical conditions for the provision of liquefied natural gas logistics services at the regasification plant in the port of El Musel, which was the last step for that the company could start operating the test infrastructure.
The main activity of the plant, which will not be used to access the Spanish gas system to supply national demand, will be the provision of liquefied natural gas logistics services, including the loading and unloading of ships and storage.
In this regard, the ministerial order highlights that the start-up of the El Musel plant “will be key in decongesting the tanker loading service without increasing costs for the gas system”, as the necessary facilities are built and “ready to operate at the time of obtaining the certificate of commissioning”.
In addition, it stresses that the commissioning of the El Musel terminal, whose main activity will be the provision of liquefied natural gas logistics services that do not involve regasification, will contribute to both national and European security of supply.
300,000 cubic meters of capacity
The plant has a storage of 300,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas, divided into two tanks of 150,000 cubic meters each, which may be used by other member states of the European Union, “with the benefits that this implies for the safety of community supply,” the order adds.
The Gijón terminal, which will allow ships of between 50,000 and 266,000 cubic meters to dock, could provide up to 8 bcm (8,000 million cubic meters) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, by unloading and loading up to 100 ships year.
As the ministry concludes, the start-up of the El Musel plant, which until now remained hibernated, “is beneficial for the gas system, both from an economic and operational perspective and, by extension, for the whole of society.”
The regasification plant was paralyzed in 2013 by court order after an investment of around 360 million euros for violating the regulations then in force in its construction, forcing the entire administrative procedure to be started again.
Good news for Asturias
In this regard, the Director General of Energy, Mining and Reactivation of the Principality, Berlarmina Díaz, has stated that, with the publication of this order, “culminates a long and very complex administrative processing process” that puts an end to the hibernation of the infrastructure, which is already “in a condition to enter into operation”.
Díaz said that this is “very good news for Asturias” because the plant has “an economic, logistical and energy relevance” and “it will contribute to the energy security of Spain and Europe”.
On February 28, Enagás and Reganosa signed an agreement whereby the former acquired the 130-kilometre network of gas pipelines from the Galician company and the latter acquired 25 percent of the El Musel plant.
According to Enagás, this operation will make it possible to take advantage of their synergies and work together on the services offered by the plant and on new collaboration possibilities to reinforce security of supply and advance the decarbonisation objectives of Spain and Europe.