LNG and natural gas individual services

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the regasification of LNG from the virtual balance tank (TVB) at regasification terminals.

It is available at all our LNG terminals. Liquefied natural gas, which is unloaded and stored in tanks at the terminals, is then vaporised to return it to its gaseous state and then fed into the transmission network.

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the storage of LNG in the Virtual Balancing Tank (TVB) at regasification terminals.

It is available at all our LNG terminals and at the other plants of the Spanish gas system. It is contracted as a delocalised service, i.e. LNG is stored in the general system, not at a specific terminal. This is what is known as the Virtual Balancing Tank (TVB).

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the loading of LNG into trucks at a regasification plant.

Enagás has been providing this service since it commenced operations in 1969. All our LNG terminals have truck loaders with cutting-edge technology to ensure agile, reliable and safe loading.

Trucks must arrive at our terminals with optimum pressure and temperature conditions. When loading is complete, the trucks move from the Enagás terminal to satellite distribution plants. From there, the gas will be supplied to certain areas through gas distribution pipelines or to facilities where supply from the pipeline network is not possible.

Click here for more information about our regasification plants and their truck loading capacity, and here to access the verification certificates of LNG truck weighing scales.

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the loading of LNG onto a vessel at a regasification plant.

All our terminals are equipped to provide this service. We offer reloading services for both small- and large-scale vessels and have made technical adjustments to the berths to facilitate the reloading of all tanker types and to eliminate boil off in these operations. We have also invested in increasing reloading flow rates to current levels.

At Enagás, the safety of operations and the protection of the environment are paramount. Therefore, before undertaking the first reloading of a methane vessel, be it small- or large-scale, Enagás will request a report assessing the tanker’s compatibility with the terminal. The tanker also requires vetting acceptance (a safety inspection certificate provided by an officially approved and internationally recognised company) for each operation..

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the transfer of LNG from one vessel to another, a process also known as "Transhipment".

Different technologies are used to perform this type of operations, as Transhipment Berth-to-Berth modality or Transhipment Ship-to-Ship, maximizing the use of our infrastructures. If you are interested in carrying out a Transhipment operation in our terminals, please contact our Commercial logistics service, where they will provide you the details of the operation and conditions.

In all services involving methane vessels, Enagás will request a report assessing the tanker’s compatibility with the plant before operations can commence. The tanker also requires vetting acceptance (a safety inspection certificate provided by an officially approved and internationally recognised company) for each operation.

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for purging the inert gas out of the tanker (gassing up) so that it can receive LNG from liquefaction or regasification terminals, following the appropriate safety standards in each case.

Customers wishing to request the gassing-up service should be aware that the vessel must arrive at the terminal with an inert gas atmosphere of nitrogen and its corresponding certificate.

The cooling down operation consists of reloading small quantities of LNG to the vessel to bring the inside of the methane tanker to temperatures nearing -160ºC and to the optimum pressure to carry out reloading or unloading operations.

All our LNG terminals provide a cooling down service. In addition, we check variables such as flow, pressure and temperature to ensure the success of the operation.

The volume of cargo associated with the cooling-down service shall not exceed the tanker’s fill level.

In all services involving methane tankers, Enagás will request a report assessing the tanker’s compatibility with the plant before operations can commence. The tanker also requires vetting acceptance (a safety inspection certificate provided by an officially approved and internationally recognised company) for each operation.

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for transporting gas from the point of entry to the transmission network up to the Virtual Balancing Point (PVB).

Our extensive transmission network enables us to transport natural gas anywhere in the country. In the case of gas pipelines, we manage access to the PVB, the point from which natural gas is transmitted and delivered to the end customer, through direct line connections, to distribution networks or to other national or intra-European transmission companies’ networks.

Enagás provides the PVB access service from:

• VIP Pirineos international connection
• VIP Ibérico international connection
• Tarifa international connection
• Almería international connection
• Connection with Barcelona regasification terminal
• Connection with Huelva regasification terminal
• Connection with Cartagena regasification terminal
• Connection with BBG regasification terminal (as ISO of Enagás Transporte del Norte)
• Connection with Sagunto regasification terminal (as ISO of Sagunto regasification plant)

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the storage of gas at the Virtual Balancing Point (PVB).

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the transfer of gas from the Virtual Balancing Point (PVB) to an exit point of the transmission network, except for regasification terminals.

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the transfer of gas from the Virtual Balancing Point (PVB) to an end consumer or, where applicable, to the point of connection of a direct line to a consumer.

At Enagás, we have an extensive variety of connections to the transmission network, which are adapted to the specific needs of the customer or distributor; for details, click here.

The connection to the transmission network facilities is made up of a position of valves and a regulation and metering station or metering station (as applicable), to deliver the requested flow in the appropriate conditions. The process for connecting to Enagás transmission networks is managed in accordance with Article 12 of Royal Decree 1434/2002 and its subsequent amendments (Royal Decrees 984/2015 and 335/2018).

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for the storage of gas in basic underground storage facilities.

Enagás operates, maintains and manages the three main underground storage facilities for natural gas in Spain (Serrablo, Gaviota and Yela). This infrastructure gives the gas system a high level of flexibility. These facilities allow strategic reserves to be kept and allow supply to be adjusted to meet demand and peak periods of consumption.

The marketing of storage, injection and extraction capacity is carried out together with the other gas storage operators in the Iberian Peninsula through standard capacity products allocated at auctions.

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for transporting the gas from the exit point of the transmission network to basic underground storage facilities.

This service includes the right to use the facilities necessary for extracting the gas from basic underground storage facilities to the point of entry to the transmission network.

These services are marketed under a framework agreement for access[SM1]  and via standard capacity products, i.e. through the signing of annual, quarterly, monthly, daily or intra-day contracts. This is carried out through the Single contracting platform for requesting and allocating capacity, which can be accessed via the SL-ATR platform.