Bahía de Bizkaia Gas’ (BBG) liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification plant in the port of Bilbao saw a 67 percent increase in activity during the year 2017.
According to the company’s report, the import facility received a total of 33 LNG carriers in 2017, totaling 4.5 million cubic meters of the chilled fuel, equivalent to 2 million tons.
This compares to 21 carriers unloaded in 2016, delivering a total of 2.7 million cubic meters or 1.2 million tons.
BBG, owned by Enagás and the Basque energy authority Ente Vasco de la Energía (EVE), said that over half of the cargoes were delivered from Peru (52 percent) with the remaining percentage coming from Nigeria (22 percent), Trinidad & Tobago (14 percent) and Norway (12 percent).
The company regasified a total of 29,265 GWh compared to 17,121 GWh regasified in 2016, representing a 71 percent increase.
Spain’s demand for natural gas rose 9.2 percent, BBG said adding that the demand for LNG including regasification and truck loading rose 51.2 percent. Truck loadings by BBG reached a 2,222, equivalent to 651 GWh, compared to 1,615 tanker trucks and 487 GWh in the previous year.
The company added that the utilization of the regasification facilities reached 36 percent.