Construction work on the Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminal began in 1977 to receive Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) produced at Bethioua in Algeria. When commissioned in 1980, it set a new level in terms of its size and capacity: the terminal had two 120,000-cubic meter tanks and a regasification rate of up to 1 million cubic meters per hour.
The terminal has been constantly adapting to meet new needs ever since: the addition of a third tank in 1983, the introduction of an automated safety system in 1995, and a capacity boost in 1999 to receive new quantities of Nigerian LNG. In 2004, the first tank was drained for repairs to be made to its internal equipment; the first time such a project had been undertaken anywhere in the world. The opening of the tank confirmed that the cryogenic membrane was still in excellent condition.
More recently, the Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminal was the site of transshipment operations never before attempted. On August 7, 2013, ENGIE subsidiary Elengy and the Port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire successfully completed their first transshipment between two high-capacity LNG carriers. On April 12, 2014, Elengy once again transshipped an LNG cargo: LNG from the Snøhvit liquefaction plant in Norway was brought to Montoir-de-Bretagne to be transshipped to a second LNG carrier for shipment to its final destination in Asia.
Since 2005, the Montoir-de-Bretagne terminal has been overtaken in the European size stakes by the terminals at Barcelona and South Hook, both of which have a greater capacity.