GDF Suez Forms Subsidiaries for Methane Terminals and Underground Natural Gas Storage

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--GDF Suez (EPA:GSZ) (Paris), the world's third largest energy provider, has established two subsidiaries: Elengy for the firm's activities in the methane tanker segment and Storengy for underground storage facilities of natural gas. The two firms were created on December 31, 2008, subsequent to approval granted at the group's general meeting on December 17, 2008. Both of the firms are being established as limited companies and will be wholly owned subsidiaries of GDF Suez. Elengy has 400 employees while Storengy has 900 employees.

Elengy was established to bring together all three of GDF Suez's methane terminals in France -- Fos Tonkin, Montoir-de-Bretagne and the upcoming terminal Fos-Cavaou slated for commissioning this year -- under a single independent legal entity. Elengy will be responsible for all activities pertaining to the development, operation and maintenance of the methane tankers in addition to direct and indirect marketing of goods and services associated with the terminals. GDF Suez will tap into Elengy's expertise in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) segment for international projects. Thierry Trouve, former Vice Managing Director of GRTgaz (Paris), a subsidiary of GDF Suez and operator of a gas transmission system in France, will serve as Elengy's Managing Director.

Elengy is looking to establish itself as a leading supplier of LNG in a deregulated European market where operators in the supply chain of natural gas are becoming increasingly specialized in a market now flooded with natural gas producers, aggregators, suppliers and traders from across the world. The firm will target companies looking to import LNG for supply to markets in France and the rest of Europe, and plans to achieve this by enhancing unloading capacity at its three LNG terminals in France and through better regulation of terminal distribution.

The Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminal has a current capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per year of natural gas and will be expanded to 16.5 billion cubic meters per year. The Fos Tonkin LNG terminal has a capacity of 7 billion cubic meters per year. The upcoming Fos-Cavaou terminal will be operated by Elengy and owned by Societe du Terminal Methanier de Fos-Cavaou (Levallois-Perret, France), a 69.7% subsidiary of Elengy.

Storengy will oversee all activities of GDF Suez in the natural gas underground storage segment in France including the planning, development, operation and maintenance of infrastructure in addition to direct and indirect marketing of goods and services associated with the facilities. Jean-Marc Leroy, former Director of Storage Activities at GDF Suez, will serve as Storengy's Managing Director. The firm operates 12 underground storage sites in France and has a presence in Canada, Germany, where it operates four sites, and the United Kingdom, and handled 10.046 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2008.

GDF Suez is currently the world leader in the LNG market and is the second largest provider of underground natural gas storage facilities in Europe. Natural gas imports in Europe are set to increase in the coming years and consumption of LNG is expected to account for more than 30% of the total natural gas consumption in Europe by 2030.

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