Commissioning phase Gate terminal

1 June 2011

Gate terminal starts with commissioning phase LNG terminal

Gate terminal will start early June with the commissioning phase of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the Rotterdam Maasvlakte. Related to this, on June 13 the first LNG-carrier will moor in the harbor of Rotterdam.

Prior to the start of commercial operations of Gate terminal in September 2011, the installations will be tested extensively for several months. In the first phase of this so called commissioning period, the tanks and pipelines are cooled down to -162 degrees Celsius. That is the temperature of the liquefied natural gas which will be supplied by LNG-carriers, stored in the three tanks at the terminal and then be supplied to the Dutch transmission network.

As not all equipment will be in use during this phase, a flare will be visible for several days as redundant gas will be burned during this period. The incineration of natural gas is safe, odorless and occurs without soot. The whole procedure has been defined in close consultation with the licenseprovider DCMR Milieudienst Rijnmond and is standard when starting up any LNG terminal.

The development of Gate terminal has been on schedule since the start of the construction in 2008. Gate terminal expects to start commercial operations in September 2011. The throughput capacity of the terminal will be 12 billion m3 of natural gas per year. Gate terminal is the first LNG terminal built in the Netherlands and will deliver an important contribution to the security of supply of gas in the Netherlands and the rest of Europe. Through this terminal, the Netherlands is connected to gas flows from around the world, which will further strengthen the position of the Netherlands as gas roundabout in Europe.

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For more information, please contact:
Gate terminal B.V.
Peter C.M. Bassa
Manager Communications
T: + 31 180 64 68 80
M: + 31 6 22 40 73 82
E-mail : peter.bassa@gate.nl
Visit our website www.gateterminal.com for more information about Gate terminal. At the media library of our website you can download photographs and video about the progress of the construction of the terminal.

Profile Gate terminal B.V.

In 2005 N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie and Royal Vopak decided to jointly develop Gate terminal (“Gas Access To Europe”), the first independent LNG import terminal in the Netherlands and are the main shareholders of Gate terminal. The imported LNG will be unloaded, stored and regasified at the terminal before distribution through the gas transmission network for the European markets.
The terminal will have an initial annual throughput capacity of 12 billion cubic meters per year (bcma) and can be increased to 16 bcma in the future.

Five European energy companies (DONG Energy from Denmark, EconGas from Austria, E.ON Ruhrgas from Germany, RWE Supply & Trading from Switzerland and Eneco from the Netherlands) have signed long term throughput agreements with Gate terminal.