Britain's newest liquefied natural gas terminal, Dragon LNG, is expected to take delivery of its first cargo of super-cooled gas on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the plant in south Wales said.
"The first commissioning cargo is expected imminently and currently scheduled for July 14," the spokeswoman said on Friday. She declined to say how many more commissioning cargoes would be needed to prepare the terminal for full commercial operations.
The local port authority website says BG Group's (BG.L: Quote) Methane Lydon Volney, which can carry 145,127 cubic metres of LNG, is to arrive on Tuesday morning. AISLive ship tracking data showed it was off the coast of Portugal on Friday.
Dragon LNG, which had been due to start up in 2008, is a joint venture in which BG holds a 50 percent stake, Malaysia's Petronas [PETR.UL] 30 percent and Dutch 4Gas 20 percent. As Europe's biggest gas market, Britain is expected to import 80-90 percent of its gas by 2020 because of a steady decline in North Sea gas production, analysts say.
Dragon's start-up capacity of 6 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year could provide up to 7 percent of Britain's current gas consumption and it is expected to expand to 9 bcm/year.
Petronas and BG each have the right to import 3 bcm a year for the next 20 years but BG will market the gas in Britain. If they do not want to use the terminal all year, berthing slots will be offered to third parties.
The terminal is able to unload tankers holding up to 217,000 cubic metres of LNG in 24 hours, which combined with 320,000 cubic metres of onshore LNG storage at the site gives a maximum send out into the British network of 1.2 million cubic metres of gas an hour.
The nearby South Hook terminal opened in May after several commissioning cargoes of super-cooled gas were delivered to cool the facility down in March and April. [ID:nLC7589] Both Welsh terminals, together with the Isle of Grain facility near London, will be key in keeping Britain well supplied with heating fuel in winter.
BG Group's Seri Ayu tanker is also expected to arrive at the Cove Point terminal on the U.S. east coast on Friday, according to AISLive data on Reuters.
"The first commissioning cargo is expected imminently and currently scheduled for July 14," the spokeswoman said on Friday. She declined to say how many more commissioning cargoes would be needed to prepare the terminal for full commercial operations.
The local port authority website says BG Group's (BG.L: Quote) Methane Lydon Volney, which can carry 145,127 cubic metres of LNG, is to arrive on Tuesday morning. AISLive ship tracking data showed it was off the coast of Portugal on Friday.
Dragon LNG, which had been due to start up in 2008, is a joint venture in which BG holds a 50 percent stake, Malaysia's Petronas [PETR.UL] 30 percent and Dutch 4Gas 20 percent. As Europe's biggest gas market, Britain is expected to import 80-90 percent of its gas by 2020 because of a steady decline in North Sea gas production, analysts say.
Dragon's start-up capacity of 6 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year could provide up to 7 percent of Britain's current gas consumption and it is expected to expand to 9 bcm/year.
Petronas and BG each have the right to import 3 bcm a year for the next 20 years but BG will market the gas in Britain. If they do not want to use the terminal all year, berthing slots will be offered to third parties.
The terminal is able to unload tankers holding up to 217,000 cubic metres of LNG in 24 hours, which combined with 320,000 cubic metres of onshore LNG storage at the site gives a maximum send out into the British network of 1.2 million cubic metres of gas an hour.
The nearby South Hook terminal opened in May after several commissioning cargoes of super-cooled gas were delivered to cool the facility down in March and April. [ID:nLC7589] Both Welsh terminals, together with the Isle of Grain facility near London, will be key in keeping Britain well supplied with heating fuel in winter.
BG Group's Seri Ayu tanker is also expected to arrive at the Cove Point terminal on the U.S. east coast on Friday, according to AISLive data on Reuters.