Strengthening energy security across Northwest Europe, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal has finished its three-year expansion project, bringing a fourth storage tank online to help diversify the continent's energy supply, boosting the Dutch facility's total capacity to 20 billion cubic meters a year.
Gasunie and Vopak, shareholders in the Gate terminal, have confirmed the construction of the fourth LNG storage tank on the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam was completed as scheduled after a construction period of three years. The new tank has a storage capacity of 180,000 cubic meters of LNG.
Jarmo Stoopman, Managing Director at Gate terminal, commented: “Gate is expanding its capacity and strengthening its role as a strategic gateway for the energy supply of the Netherlands and Northwest Europe. The ability to supply LNG from various parts of the world helps Europe further diversify its energy supply and enhances security of supply.”
With this expansion, the new tank, set to be commissioned on October 1, 2026, to increase its storage and regasification capacity, strengthening the terminal's role in the energy and security of supply for the Netherlands and Northwest Europe.
Following a final investment decision (FID) in January 2026, the construction of Jetty 4 by the Port of Rotterdam is well underway and expected to start small-scale ship loading and bunkering operations by the end of 2028.
The decision was made to build an additional tank, partly as a response to the 2022 energy crisis. This expansion adds 4 billion cubic meters of regasification capacity per year, bringing Gate's total capacity to 20 billion cubic meters per year. The total Dutch gas market has a volume of approximately 30 billion cubic meters per year.
Gate terminal also launched an unbinding 'expression of interest' on August 31, 2026, allowing market parties to show their interest in future loading capacity for the intended Jetty 5 to facilitate further growth and the rising demand for cleaner marine fuels.
The terminal receives LNG by ship, stores it temporarily in liquid form, and then makes it suitable for delivery via the gas transmission network to users in the Netherlands and surrounding countries. The expansion increases the capacity to supply LNG from different parts of the world.