Grain LNG kicks off second open season phase

National Grid’s Grain LNG launched the second phase of an on-going open season placing on offer facility’s redelivery and storage capacity.

The market is invited to bid for up to 300 GWh/d (7.2 mtpa) of redelivery capacity and 380,000 cubic meters of associated storage, to be made available from mid-2025.

The capacity on offer is a combination of newbuild and existing capacity which comes out of contract in 2025.

The expansion will increase the size of the Grain LNG terminal, located on the Isle of Grain in Kent, to approximately 1.2 million cubic meters.

Nicola Duffin, commercial manager for Grain LNG, said, “During these unprecedented times, we believe the demand for LNG importation capacity remains strong.”

The company has already received the required regulatory approvals to proceed to the next phase.

Duffin added that the final and binding bids are required by June 15, 2020.

The facility also offers reloads, transshipments and a multi-bay facility for reloading road tankers, and ISO containers and has plans for a marine breakbulk facility.

The terminal is the only facility in the UK offering small-scale solutions to the market.

UK terminals have seen a considerable increase in utilisation recently as new global supplies have come online and the economics of moving LNG from the Atlantic to the Pacific basin have failed to stack up.

Grain LNG noted that the consultation phase of the open season concluded in January 2020. The second bidding phase was initially scheduled for March 2020. however, Covid-19 spread caused delays.