IEEFA data for Q1 2026 found four LNG terminals at their lowest utilisation since 2023: Panigaglia near La Spezia, EemsEnergy at Eemshaven in the Netherlands, Fos Cavaou in southern France, and the Sines terminal on Portugal's Atlantic coast. The finding sits alongside the Russian LNG quarterly record reported in the same dataset, which means overall import volumes rose while terminal throughput concentrated at fewer facilities.
The concentration pattern has a geographic logic. Post-Hormuz, LNG cargoes are overwhelmingly Atlantic-sourced (US at 63% of EU imports in Q1). Atlantic cargoes route preferentially to large-capacity terminals on the Atlantic and North Sea coasts: Zeebrugge, Gate Rotterdam, Montoir. Smaller or Mediterranean-facing terminals that historically received Qatari or spot Middle Eastern cargoes are losing throughput because those cargoes no longer exist in sufficient volume. The terminals recording low utilisation are precisely the ones most exposed to the loss of eastern and southern supply routes.
For infrastructure operators, low utilisation feeds directly into the revenue assumptions underpinning terminal investment cases. For gas consumers served by those terminals, lower throughput means less local supply, which reinforces the hub premium that ACER identified in Central European markets. The EU built LNG import capacity to diversify away from pipeline dependency; in practice, the new dependency concentrates at a handful of hubs.
