About Us
South Hook LNG Terminal became fully operational in 2010 and has now provided safe, reliable and secure energy to the UK, for over fifteen years. In that time a lot has changed. The global need for energy has continued to increase, and new sources of energy supplies have been found to meet this growing need, and also to replace older supply sources that have started to run out or no longer fit with society’s efforts to reduce emissions.
A range of energy sources and technologies will be necessary to meet the UK’s future energy requirements. Natural gas will continue to play a vital role in ensuring that our homes can be kept warm, electricity is available whenever it is needed, and industry has safe and reliable fuel supplies in order to make the products that we all depend upon.
As well as being an essential fuel in its own right, natural gas can also be reformed through an industrial process to create hydrogen. For these reasons, in 2019 South Hook LNG Terminal’s majority shareholders – affiliates of QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil - committed to make further significant investments in natural gas by creating a new gas supply opportunity for the UK and wider markets. This includes building a brand-new LNG production facility and increasing the capability of South Hook LNG Terminal to bring gas to this country.
The largest part of this investment commitment is to develop a brand-new LNG production (liquefaction) plant in Texas, USA. This new facility – Golden Pass – will cost around US$10bn to convert from importing LNG into the USA, so it can export LNG from the USA. This development has been made possible due to significant new discoveries of natural gas resources in the USA, and advances in technology to help efficiently extract these. The US Government has already sanctioned the export of natural gas to countries including the UK through 2050. From Golden Pass, LNG can be shipped by sea to wherever it is needed most.
South Hook LNG Terminal has the ability to meet around 25% of the UK’s daily natural gas needs. The Terminal has a 812.5Gwh maximum daily regasification (send out) capacity with a process capacity of 19.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). South Hook is capable of delivering around 27 billion cubic metres of gas into the national transmission system, each year. To send out full capacity along with other terminals requires the national grid transmission pipeline to be modified.
South Hook Gas has purchased 100% of the Terminal capacity.