FlandersNews.Be reports that, “Soon the ballast tanks of the tankers that carry gas from Qatar to the West Flemish port of Zeebrugge will be loaded with drinking water bound for the Arab emirate on the return leg of their trip. News that the gas distributor Fluxys is to supply Belgian water to Qatar appears in Tuesday’s edition of the daily ‘De Morgen’. …(News reports note) that a reservoir tank will be built to store the water at the company’s site at Zeebrugge docks. …An accord on the supply of water from Belgium will be signed by both parties when a trade mission led by the Flemish Prime Minister Kris Peeters (Christian democrat) visits Qatar next month.”
The De Morgen article adds, “TMVW, the water company serving Zeebrugge, shall be responsible for supplying it. The quality will be comparable to tap water, and a memorandum of understanding is to be signed between Fluxys and Qatar in early February during a trade mission headed by the Flemish minister-president, Kris Peeters.”
Essentially, as further explained by LNG World News, “When the gas is transported, the ballast tanks are filled with sea water so as to stabilise the ship’s weight. ‘But why not, instead of sea water, fill the tanks with fresh water as ballast, we thought,’ explains Daniël Termont, head of the gas network administrator Fluxys and mayor of Ghent. ‘Then the ships can return home carrying fresh water that can be used for irrigation in Qatar.’”
Belgium is a member state of the European Union and would be party to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
The news articles are at http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/news/110118_Water_for_gas, http://www.mediargus.be/flanderstoday.public/en/pressroom.aspx?Page=2, and http://www.lngworldnews.com/lng-tankers-to-carry-water-from-belgium-to-qatar/.
