---

Gas infrastructure group Fluxys has announced that turnover during the first nine months of 2015 dipped EUR 9.8 million, or 2.45 percent, compared to last year.

The Belgium-based group achieved a turnover of EUR 389.9 million between January and September 2015 compared with EUR 399.7 million over the same period in 2014.

"The turnover generated by regulated activities is slightly down on that of the first three quarters of 2014, mainly as a result of the minor drop in sales of transmission capacity and the impact of the reduction of OLO rates on tariff settlements," the company said in a statement.

Of the investment budget of EUR 192.5 million for 2015, a total of EUR 148.5 million had been invested by late September 2015, Fluxys said. The largest projects were as follows:

- A second jetty is being built for both loading and unloading liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers at the Zeebrugge terminal. Starting in 2016, this jetty will be able to accommodate ships with a capacity of between 2,000 and 217,000 cubic metres of LNG.

- The fifth storage tank at the LNG terminal in Zeebrugge is being constructed to offer transhipment services as part of the 20-year contract Fluxys LNG has concluded with Yamal LNG for the transhipment of up to 8 million tonnes of LNG per year.

- The pipeline laid between Alveringem and Maldegem, forming the Belgian section of the crossborder line between Dunkirk and Zeebrugge. The work on the pipeline follows on from that on the new LNG terminal in Dunkirk and on the natural gas pipeline in France linking the terminal to the Belgian network in Alveringem. The new pipeline was commissioned on November 1.

Image: The Fluxys LNG terminal in Zeebrugge.