The Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) regasification plant Gate Terminal, located in Maasvlakte (Rotterdam) was named “LNG Project of the Year” by the European Gas Conference Awards, given by the organization of this international event that has taken place in Vienna from January 24^th to 27^th, in conjunction with respected publisher Natural Gas Europe. The awards were given during a gala dinner on January 25^th to recognize outstanding achievements in the industry.

According to the judges, Gate terminal “will serve as an independent distribution point for European energy companies to address the rising demand for and declining production of natural gas in North-Western Europe. The terminal will both increase the security of supplies and enable new players to enter the European gas market.”

Gate terminal is a project carried out by Sener as part as the TS LNG joint venture, in charge of managing the engineering, procurement, construction and start-up of the plant. TS LNG delivered the plant to the client as planned, complying successfully with the EPC contract. Since this project began, in June 2008, until the end of the EPC works, in September 1^st 2011, special attention has been paid to safety, protecting the environment, operational availability and versatility. It is worth mentioning that this construction phase has been completed with one of the highest levels of safety ever recorded for works implemented in Rotterdam’s Europort, boasting more than 2,500,000 work hours without accidents, currently at Low Level A.

As part of the construction joint venture, composed of four companies, Sener has taken part in the project management, the procurement and the construction works. Also, Sener has been responsible for managing the plant’s implementation, the commissioning and the start-up, as well as for engineering activities. The success of this Project has confirmed TS LNG (joint venture between Techint and Sener) position as a company specializing in EPC contracts in the natural gas sector.

Gate terminal is one of the biggest LNG terminals in Europe. It has an initial throughput capacity of 12 billion m³/year (billion cubic metres) and three 180,000-m³ storage tanks. The terminal has two jetties able to unload simultaneously two boats of the Q-Max type (the world biggest LNG boats). The high-scale Gate terminal is in fact able to fulfill the needs of Natural Gas of the whole population in Holland and part of Europe. The total project cost is estimated at EUR 800 million.