BBG receives the LNG carrier 1,000 of its history and strengthens ist leadership

• BBG’s activity ensures the supply of natural gas in the Atlastic Arc.
• It supplies 200% of the Euskadi gas demand and 16% of the state gas demand.
• Gas consumption in the Basque Country was 25,772 GWh in 2024.

Bahía de Bizkaia Gas (BBG), the storage and regasification of liquefied natural gas located in the Port of Bilbao, has welcomed the berth of the LNG carrier Rioja Knutsen, chartered by Naturgy, a ship that makes the thousand of those operated in this energy facility. This is a milestone for the plant most commonly used within the Spanish State gas system.
 
The Rioja Knutsen docked at the BBG jetty in the early hours of 20 January from the United States and will remain there for 24 hours until the unloading of the 164,000 m3 of liquefied natural gas (LNG) it is carrying is completed. This is a liquid natural gas tanker of the Atlantic Max 2G type, capable of carrying liquefied gas in its cryogenic holds, which must remain at a temperature of -163º C. Belonging to the shipping company Knutsen OAS Shipping, the vessel has an overall length of 290 metres and a beam of 46.4 metres. It was built in 2016 in South Korea and sails under the Spanish flag.
 
Since its start-up in 2003, Bahía de Bizkaia Gas has been strategic for the entry of natural gas throughout the Atlantic Arc. The natural gas traders who buy the gas at source have chosen the BBG facilities to berth their ships as they can operate with great flexibility and increasingly efficient and larger vessels, such as the so-called Q-Max, the largest LNG carriers in the world capable of transporting up to 267,000 m3 of LNG in their holds. This traffic also represents a boost for the Port of Bilbao as it represents a value of more than 10% of its total freight traffic.
 
BBG has a total storage capacity of 450,000 m3 of LNG thanks to three storage tanks of 150,000 m3 capacity each (the third inaugurated in 2015), and its regasification capacity – to return the LNG to a gaseous state – is 800,000 Nm3/h, gas that it subsequently injects into the general supply network for consumption.
 
BBG system leader
Bahía de Bizkaia Gas has two partners; it is 50% owned by the Basque Energy Agency (www.eve.eus) (which was also the initiator of the project at source) and the operator Enagás. In 2024 it received a total of 49 methane vessels that moved 7.84 million cubic metres of LNG, equivalent to 3.4 million tonnes. In addition, BBG regasified (transformed liquid gas into gas) a total of 50,887,4 GWh.
 
Last year, demand for Natural Gas has been reduced by 4.2% throughout the Spanish State compared to the previous year. This decrease is mainly due to the reduction in demand for natural gas for electricity generation, which has decreased by 21.9%, although conventional demand has increased by 3.1% over the previous year. As far as natural gas supplies are concerned, 62% were supplied by LNG.
 
Within the same scope of the gas system, BBG has increased its share as it has received 27.24% of the total LNG that has entered the system compared to 22% of the previous year. It has also covered 200% of the demand for natural gas in the Basque Country and 16% of the demand for natural gas throughout the state, thus fulfilling its primary mission of guaranteeing the supply to the Basque Country and strengthening the Spanish gas system.
 
The level of use of BBG regasification facilities has been the highest of all plants in the system with 62.3%.
 
As for the company’s economic performance, with provisional values, they offer an EBITDA of €23.3 million and post-tax benefits (BDI) of €16.6 million.
 
Strategic historic project
The BBG liquefied natural gas storage and regasification plant is one of the most ambitious and important energy projects developed throughout the recent history of the Basque Country. It entered into operation in 2003.
 
The genesis of the project was developed in the 1990s; in those years, the industrial gasification of the Basque Country was very advanced although there were shortages in supply that had to be reinforced in order to meet the growing needs of the whole of the Basque productive sector. Thus, the BBG project was conceived with the objective of guaranteeing the supply of natural gas to the productive fabric and, at the same time, to make the Basque Country an important hub of connections between the European Gasistas networks. 
 
The current network of Euskadi gas pipelines allows BBG to connect with the international market through the maritime connection of BBG with the French territory and with the rest of Europe through the Euskadour gas pipeline; and from the west and south with the rest of the State’s gas networks. 
 
Natural gas was also introduced in the Basque Country 40 years ago with the aim of reducing the weight of petroleum products in the Basque energy mix. The first Gasistan networks were built to replace conventional fuels with this much cleaner, accessible energy source. Natural gas is the fossil fuel with the best environmental properties (combustion involves CO2 emissions per _unit of energy produced 40-45% less than coal and 20-30% less than oil) and the cleaner conventional energy source to produce electricity. Gas consumption in the Basque Country was 25,772 GWh in 2024, of which 76% corresponds to conventional consumption (industry, domestic, etc.). and 24% to gas consumption in combined cycle power plants.
 
At this time, the use of coal in the Basque Country has practically disappeared and the use of petroleum products in the industry has been replaced to the maximum. In addition, and with great importance for competitiveness, natural gas has enabled the introduction of much more efficient industrial technologies that have improved the intensity of energy use and the competitiveness of the Basque industry. The use of natural gas in the tertiary and domestic sectors has made it possible to increase comfort and energy security for the entire population at previously unknown levels.
 

Galería de Imágenes