---

Fluxys is continuing to prepare its LNG terminal in Zeebrugge, Belgium, for future LNG bunker demand with the completion of another milestone in the construction of its fifth LNG tank.

Spain's Duro Felguera (DF) - a company specializing in executing turnkey projects for the energy, industrial and oil & gas sectors - says it has successfully placed the 93.5-metre-diameter dome roof on the facility's new LNG storage tank by using the 'air-rising' process of increasing air pressure underneath the 1,300-tonne roof - one of the largest of its type in the world - to lift it into place.

DF will now work on finishing the assembly of the inner tank and its insulation. It will then conduct hydrostatic tests as the prior step to commissioning the facility.

DF is also installing the boil-off gas recovery system that enables recirculation and recovery of evaporated LNG during shipping operations.

Construction on the tank began in mid-2015. Once completed, the terminal's storage capacity will surpass half a million cubic metres (cbm), making it one of the largest LNG terminals in Europe.

The fifth tank will be able to store up to 180,000 cbm of LNG, making it the Zeebrugge terminal's largest.

As well as preparing for an increase in LNG bunker demand, Fluxys will from next year be offering LNG transshipment services at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal for Yamal LNG, which is currently building an LNG production facility in Northeast Siberia.

As previously reported, Fluxys recently launched its second jetty at the Zeebrugge LNG terminal. The new jetty is designed to receive LNG carriers ranging from the smallest ships with an LNG capacity of 2,000 cbm up to larger vessels with a 217,000-cbm capacity.

With the second jetty now in operation, small bunker vessels are able to berth, load LNG and then resupply to other LNG-powered vessels or small bunker terminals.

"The ability to receive the smallest LNG vessels means that LNG bunker ships can now berth as well: a milestone in the development of small-scale LNG and in particular the development of LNG as a ship fuel," Fluxys noted earlier this year.

Additionally, being able to use both jetties means the terminal can respond flexibly to demand for simultaneous or consecutive berthings, and two LNG carriers can be unloaded and/or loaded at the same time.

The world's first purpose-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering vessel, the Engie Zeebrugge, this month performed its first deliveries of LNG in Zeebrugge to two new gas-propelled pure car and truck carriers (PCTCs) owned by United European Car Carriers (UECC): the M/V Auto Eco and the M/V Auto Energy.

The bunker vessel, which loads product from Fluxys' LNG terminal, will be carrying out a weekly delivery of LNG bunkers to the two UECC ships.

Image: The Fluxys LNG terminal in Zeebrugge.