LNG

Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET) increased its contribution to Germany’s security of supply by more than a third in 2025, supported by higher utilization of existing floating LNG terminals and the start‑up of a third unit at Wilhelmshaven. The state‑owned operator said its three FSRUs delivered 79 Terawatt-hours (TWh) of natural gas into the German grid last year, up from 59 TWh in both 2024 and 2023.

Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET) has allocated all regasification slots offered between 2 January and 26 May 2026 at its Brunsbüttel terminal. A total of 16 slots, each with a size of 3.6 million Btu, were sold at auction at a clearing price of €0.66 per Btu.

Construction of an onshore LNG import terminal at Brunsbüttel is more expensive than expected, forcing Germany to support it with another €200 million in federal funding – on top of the €740 million initially committed. Broadcaster NDR reports total costs now surpass €1,5 billion, instead of €1.3 billion, with private investors having to shoulder most of the overrun.  

Deutsche Regas GmbH, the operator of the floating liquefied natural gas import terminal at the Baltic Sea port of Lubmin, said operating permits had been received at the company’s second German Baltic regasification terminal, located at the port of Mukran on Germany’s largest island of Rügen to allow operations to formally begin.

Tree Energy Solutions (TES), the future energy hub developer at the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, said regulators had exempted the planned onshore liquefied natural gas terminal within the “Green Energy Hub” from tariff and third-party access regulations for a period of 20 years from the start of operations.

RWE AG, the German utility with LNG import interests at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe while also being involved in coal-fired generation and energy trading, reported improved earnings.

Jan 22 (LNG) - US and Russian cargoes are scheduled for delivery to European LNG import terminals in the coming week with the Dutch Title Transfer Facility day-ahead spot price on the European Energy Exchange on January 22 decreasing to the equivalent of $8.955 per million British thermal units from $9.109 per MMBtu at the end of last week.

   The “Christophe De Margerie” with 172,600 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to deliver a Russian cargo on January 24 to the Zeebrugge terminal in Belgium, according to shipping data. The cargo was lifted on January 17 from the Yamal plant in northern Siberia. Germany is scheduled to receive a US cargo on January 29 at the import terminal at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe. The cargo will be delivered by the “Elisa Aquila” vessel with 170,500 cubic metres capacity. The volumes were loaded on January 14 at the Cameron plant in Louisiana.

Deutsche ReGas GmbH, the German owner of the floating LNG terminal at the Baltic Sea port of Lubmin and with another floating terminal set to start at the nearby port of Mukran, said it would hold an open season in November for short-term capacities.

Deutsche ReGas GmbH, the German owner of the floating LNG terminal at the Baltic port of Lubmin, and German Transmission System Operator, Gascade GmbH, are organising a “town hall” event to try and clear the way for the fifth out of six proposed floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) to be deployed off Mukran Port on Rügen, Germany’s largest island in the Baltic Sea.

The Ministry of Economics is determined that at least one of the six government-chartered FSRUs be deployed at Rügen, near Lubmin, before winter 2023 to handle an additional five billion cubic metres per annum of regasified LNG .

The plans call for import facilities to be established off the southeast cost of Rügen several kilometres from the resorts of Sassnitz and Ostseebad-Blinz.

This Rügen FSRU plan has led to opposition and some demonstrations from locals backed by Green party activitists who believe that the replacement energy sources for halted Russian pipeline gas would harm the tourist industry on the island in what was a part of the former East Germany.

Deutsche Regas and Gascade have called the public meeting for the town of Ostseebad-Binz on June 20 as imports are due to start before the end of the year.

Progress

As part of efforts to replace lost Russian pipeline gas supplies, the German government has been installing LNG terminals along its coast with the first to start operations in January 2023 being the Deutsche Regas terminal at Lubmin.

The facilities at Lubmin are about 40 nautical miles from Sassnitz and Mukran port that are part of the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

As 2023 has progressed, Berlin has inaugurated several other FSRUs at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven and at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River.

The floating LNG terminals import gas mainly from the US and Qatar and the volumes are delivered into the German energy grid and beyond.

There are also plans for some of the FSRUs to be replaced by permanent onshore regasification facilities as in Brunsbüttel.

Deutsche Regas has advertised the town hall-style gathering on its Web site proclaiming “citizen information event about the LNG terminal in Mukran”.

The event has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 20, at 5 pm local time at the Kurhaus-Saal venue near Schillerstraße in Ostseebad-Binz.

“All are welcome and a project presentation will start at 5:45 pm followed by a questions and answers session with the end of the event scheduled for 7:00pm,” said Deutsche Regas and Gascade in their invitation.  

Open Season June 29

Deutsche Regas is trying to clear the way for the June 29 Open Season launch for Phase II capacity of the LNG terminal expansion to Mukran port.

“In Phase II, it is planned to operate the floating LNG terminal consisting of two FSRUs in the port of Mukran from December 2023 and to connect it to the gas pipeline network via a new connecting line between Mukran and Lubmin,” explained Deutsche Regas in a statement.

“In Phase II, the planned annual throughput capacity for natural gas is up to 13.5 billion cubic metres,” it added.

Gascade was involved in helping with the development of the Deutsche Regas FRSU terminal at Lubmin.

In just a few weeks, Gascade completed the pipeline link to the gas landfall at Greifswald with connections to the NEL (North European Natural Gas Pipeline), OPAL (Ostsee-Pipeline-Anbindungsleitung) and EUGAL (European Gas Pipeline Link) connections to the gas grids of the rest of Germany and the European Union.

INEOS, the UK-based European chemicals company with increasing LNG interests, is entering the US oil and gas production sector for the first time with the acquisition of a portion of Chesapeake Energy’s assets in the Eagle Ford shale basin in south Texas for $1.4 billion.