AS imports of liquefied natural gas have surged, Europe is facing bottlenecks in regasifica-tion and regional distribution, and this includes some of the nations that have been ahead of the curve in investing in LNG import terminals. Spain was one of several countries to experience this, with scores of LNG tankers idling off its coast waiting for a berth at one of the country's many terminals in recent months. Spain already accounts for about one-third of onshore regasification in Europe, with six other regasification facilities around the country with combined annual capacity of some 60 billion cubic metres. Portugal has one other regasi-fication terminal, Ren Atlantico, with 7.7 Bcm per annum capacity. Yet over 40 LNG-carrying vessels were reported circulating off Spanish waters in mid-October, as Spanish gas network operator Enagas warned it had only six slots that could be allocated on a weekly basis to process cargoes, with more build-up seen as inevitable. "There are still capacity constraint going on, to get volumes into terminals," says Piers de Wilde, senior LNG analyst at Poten & Partners, citing about 20 vessels still queuing off European coasts as of mid-December, waiting fdr docking space.
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