With the decline of North Sea gas supplies increasing the requirement for gas imports, in 2002 National Grid began work to convert an existing LNG peak shave storage facility at the Isle of Grain in Kent into an LNG importation terminal.
Commissioned in 2005, the Grain LNG terminal has the capacity to receive and process up to 3.3 million tonnes of LNG (4.4 billion cubic metres of gas) per annum, equivalent to 13 million cubic metres (140GWh/d) of gas per day. Grain LNG’s customers determine the actual LNG throughput.
A 20-year contract is in place with BP/Sonatrach to enable them to import LNG into the UK from other countries. LNG is an ideal way to transport and store gas, as cooled to –161oC it takes up 600 times less space in its liquid form.
Work is currently underway to triple the terminal capacity to 9.8 million tonnes per annum (12% of UK gas demand). This involves the construction of three new state of the art LNG storage tanks, each holding as much as the existing plant and equal in size to the Albert Hall! This capacity has been sold to three customers, Sonatrach, Centrica and Gaz de France and is expected to be available for winter 2008/9.
A further expansion at Grain LNG has recently been announced which is expected to provide an additional five million tonnes of capacity in time for winter 2010/11. Construction work will include a second jetty and an additional total containment LNG storage tank of 190,000m3.
Why do we need LNG?
Gas demand is expected to increase by at least 15% over the next 10 years and dependence on imports is expected to approach 50% by 2010. Over time, as UK demand grows and indigenous supplies from the UK Continental Shelf diminish, LNG could make up a significant percentage of the UK's gas supply requirement. However, it will be for the market to decide how much. Grain LNG is ideally placed with existing assets and capability to expand considerably to help address this deficit.
Why Grain?
The site at Grain is ideally suited since National Grid had existing LNG storage facilities and owns a significant area of land. In addition, the River Medway and the sea approach is deep enough for the largest LNG ships, carrying up to 205,000 cubic metres of LNG, to berth. The site also has an existing connection to the high pressure National Transmission System (NTS) and is close to the main centre of demand in the UK.