The most notable infrastructure put in place by Enagás in 2010 was the establishment of three new LNG storage tanks:
- The 7th tank at the Barcelona Regasification Plant;
- The 5th tank at the Cartagena Plant and;
- The 5th tank at the Huelva Plant.
Each of the three tanks has an LNG capacity of 150,000 m3.
At the Barcelona plant, facilities have been adapted to receive Q-Flex tankers (210,000 m3 of LNG) and Q-max tankers (260,000 m3 of LNG), when dredging at the port has been completed, which is being carried out by the Barcelona Port Authority.
In order to act independently and to boost underground storage capacity, Enagás has become the sole owner of the Gaviota storage facility, in waters located off the coast of Bermeo. It purchased 82% from Repsol in April and 18% from Murphy.
Also notable is the increase in the Bahía de Bizkaia Gas (BG) regasification plant share, due to the 15% purchase of Repsol shares in September. Enagás is currently the majority shareholder, holding 40% of the share capital.
In this section related to acquisitions, the purchase of Iberdrola natural gas transport assets must also be noted.
Other notable activities carried out by Enagás:
- Montesa compression station start-up, various regulation and measurement stations and the monitoring system at the Barcelona plant.
- Duplication of the Castelnou–Arbós pipeline which will strengthen the grid in the Tivissa (Tarragona) area. It is 92 km long and 26" in diameter.
- Project execution (Official State Gazette 10/12/2010) approval provided to Enagás for the Yela–Villar de Arnedo pipeline. This is considered another step in building and connecting the Yela pipeline in Guadalajara to the gas grid.
- Expansion of Enagás' corporate purpose to extend to transport and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) and to other liquids (i.e. hydrogen, biogas), as well as to gas market management.
- Enagás has been placed on the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) for the third year running. This index includes companies that set an example of the best sustainability and corporate responsibility practices in the world.
Gas Natural Fenosa began operating the Larraga–Los Arcos pipeline in Navarre halfway through the year. This new infrastructure is 69 km long and has provided natural gas services to 8 towns in Navarre, amounting to 10,500 inhabitants.
Other notable investments involved connecting and positioning a higher pressure transmission network, such as the regulation and measurement stations. These operations aimed to provide gas consumption services to new locations. This is yet another result of expansion throughout Spain, a country which still has great potential to provide gas to new municipalities.
In fact, Gas Natural Fenosa was the company that provided natural gas services to the most municipalities over 2010.
Gas Natural Fenosa has continued to promote natural gas use in the automotive industry, a portion of the market that is little developed in Spain but which already has some background and technological experience behind it. As a result, a new natural gas vehicle (NGV) station has been built in Madrid, the largest in Europe. It has 9 simultaneous refuelling lanes to attend to a maximum of 180 buses per hour. This station reduces yearly nitrogen dioxide emissions by 54 tonnes and particles by nearly 4 tonnes. The transport company Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Madrid now has 400 buses which circulate using this energy.
Gas Natural Fenosa has opened new branches in Belgium and Luxembourg, where procedures were put in place to market gas in May. This is a new boost to international activities, in this case, in central Europe. Still within Europe, the company is strengthening its activities in Italy, a country in which it has played a role since 2002 and in which it has a regasification plant building project, in the northern town of Trieste. In 2011, the company will sell its own natural gas as it has acquired part of the regasification capacity from the Panigaglia plant (La Spezia).
As a result of the commitments undertaken by the Gas Natural Group in the National Competition Commission, Gas Natural Fenosa sold assets to Galp and to Morgan Stanley in the Community of Madrid. After signing the agreement, Madrileña Suministro de Gas and Madrileña Suministro de Gas S.U.R. became part of the Portuguese group Galp Energía, while Madrileña Red de Gas and Madrileña Servicios Comunes were purchased by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure.
In mid-December, Gas Natural Fenosa finalised the sale of the 35% that it owned in Gas Aragón, belonging to Endesa.
Before then, at the end of July, the purchase of various gas distribution assets (in the provinces of Toledo and Granada) by Gas Natural Fenosa was made public, which belonged to Corporación Llorente. The purchase was carried out on approximately 100 km of network and in a market with around 900 Gwh of gas.
Naturgas Energía opened the final section of the 90 km long Bergara–Irún pipeline split halfway through the year. The section lies between Villabona and Irún and is the largest project carried out by the company to date. Naturgas Energía is incorporated into HC Energía which is itself a subsidiary of the Portuguese EDP.
This project aims to strengthen the gas exchange network between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, thereby resolving the saturation problem being experienced in the Guipúzcoa grid.
The pipeline split has doubly increased previous capacity between Spain and France through the Irún interconnection. By 2015, a quarter of the pipeline natural gas transmission capacity between Spain and France (7.5 bcm) will be located in this connection.
In 2010, Naturgas Energía began operating as a distributor in the Community of Madrid, in a municipality of over 7,000 inhabitants.
The Iberdrola Group is active in the areas of supply, logistics, trading and delivery to end customers within the natural gas sector.
Iberdrola manages a secure and competitive natural gas supply contract portfolio to serve customer demand. In 2010, it supplied 5.8 bcm, the same volume recorded in 2009, having adapted to the decrease in gas consumption being experienced in Spain due to the economic crisis.
The company managed 90 liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments over the 2010 period. They were shipped on various LNG tankers, ranging from 7,500 to 216,000 cubic metres in size, with delivery points at regasification plants in Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Huelva, Sagunto, and for the first time, Ferrol, as well as other international points.
The company also continued to supply gas to its wholesale, industrial, commercial and domestic customers located throughout the Peninsula. It also continued to maintain commercial operations with customers in the south of France and in Portugal.
On the international market, Iberdrola carried out various trading and optimisation operations from its gas supply portfolio with its LNG shipment sales to Europe and Asia. In this chapter, the most relevant component was establishing contracted capacity in the third stage of the Isle of Grain regasification terminal, providing direct access to the British gas market.
Initial LNG exports to Norway were also notable, a country which in turn supplies LNG. A contract was also signed with a Danish company, to whom 1 bcm a year will be supplied (from the 2011 second quarter) over a period of 10 years.
The company has ensured it will have the capacity required for future interconnection configurations with France and in the Open Season processes being carried out by the regulating agencies Spanish CNE and French CRE, meeting European Commission guidelines.
To conclude, Iberdrola is committed to a reliable gas system by exceeding the minimum natural gas safety requirements established under current legislation.
Throughout the year, Endesa Gas Transportista (a part of the Endesa Group) carried out various gas infrastructure projects. The following gas pipelines were particularly noteworthy: insular lines in Ibiza (10" and 17 km long), the Gallur–Tueste–Egea de los Caballeros line (38 km and 12"), the El Puerto de Santa María–Rota line (22 km and 12") and the Azaila–Albalate del Arzobispo–Ariño line (Section II).
In 2010, Transportista Regional del Gas, also a part of the Endesa Group, began operating the pipeline between Segovia and Otero de Herreros. This is part of the pipeline that will link Segovia to Ávila.
In April 2010, the Official State Gazette published approval of the pipeline project Linares–Úbeda–Villacarrillo, awarded to Endesa Gas Transportista. It will begin operating at the end of 2012.
Gas Extremadura is a very territorially-limited distribution company, although it maintains a constant growth rate. In 2010, it exceeded 61,000 points of supply.
