VIENNA (Dow Jones)--Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) said Tuesday its gas-handling unit OMV Gas International GmbH has acquired a 5% equity stake in a planned liquified natural gas terminal in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.
The final decision to build the terminal, which is to have an annual output capacity of 9 billion cubic meters, or bcm,, was announced Tuesday morning, OMV said. The total project costs has been estimated at EUR800 million, and the terminal is expected to be fully operational by 2011.
The so-called Gate terminal has been planned by a consortium consisting of the Dutch companies N.V. Netherlandse Gasunie and Koninklijke Vopak N.V. (39300.AE). In addition to OMV, Denmark's DONG A/S and Dutch company Essent N.V. have also agreed to acquire 5% equity stakes.
OMV said its gas trading unit EconGas has signed an output agreement with the terminal consortium for a throughput of 3 bcm per year from the second half of 2011.
Reinhard Mitschek, senior vice president of the logistics business unit within OMV Gas International GmbH, said in a statement: "This cooperation in the Netherlands is an important step in OMV's LNG business. With our participation in the Adria LNG terminal project in Croatia and with our commitment to Gate, we are gaining an excellent strategic position in two main regions for LNG in Europe".
DONG and Essent have also signed contracts for throughputs of 3 bcm per year each, OMV said.
According to the construction plan, the Gate terminal's capacity will ultimately be expanded to 16 bcm per year, which translates to 180 full LNG tankers per year, OMV said