LNG

Deutsche ReGas has been granted permanent to operate its Deutsche Ostsee LNG terminal at Mukran port on Rügen in the Baltic Sea, allowing the use of onboard gas generators on two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs).

Deutsche Regas is auctioning 12 slots at its Mukran FSRU on the island of Rügen on Tuesday, 21 October 2025. The unloading and regas slots will be offered evenly throughout the year.

Deutsche ReGas, the only privately-financed LNG terminal operator in Germany, has entered agreements with BASF and Equinor for the utilisation of LNG regas capacity at Deutsche Ostsee Energie-Terminal in Mukran. Though commercial terms were not disclosed, the agreements highlight the role of the Mukran terminal in diversified energy supply.

Deutsche ReGas has succeeded in gaining permission to restart reloading LNG tankers at its Mukran floating regas and storage unit (FSRU). The environmental ministry had forbidden the practice in the autumn, arguing reloading was not covered by the terminal’s original permit.

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.

The Danish Energy Agency has offered the Nord Stream AG company the chance to participate in the salvage of an observed object near the sabotaged pipelines under the Baltic Sea that were put out of operation by unexplained explosions in September 2022 and led to the Germans adopting LNG as a replacement fuel.

The German Federal Government enjoyed full public support for floating LNG terminals fast-tracked in 2022 and early 2023 for North Sea, Elbe River and Baltic port projects, though is now facing opposition for a fifth out of six proposed floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) to be deployed at Rügen, Germany’s largest island in the Baltic Sea.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz formally opened the nation’s second liquefied natural gas terminal since its reliance on Russian pipeline gas came to a close in 2022 and fast-track developments have been made possible due to the support and know-how in particular of French and Dutch energy and shipping companies.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her natural gas and energy ties to Russia during her 16-year tenure, including the building of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany where LNG will soon replace Gazprom supplies.