LNG

The German Association of Transmission System Operators (FNB Gas) said that members were seeking more capacity reservations and capacity expansion for pipelines as well as more sector benefits from imported and regasified LNG and from power plants in accordance with the new gas industry framework for Germany.

Hanseatic Energy Hub GmbH has chosen the leading Spanish liquefied natural gas terminal owner and gas grid operator Enagás as an industrial partner for the operation of the future onshore LNG terminal planned for the lower Elbe River in northern Germany.

RWE AG, the German utility with an LNG floating import facility at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River, reported a drop in net income as it shut its last nuclear plant in Germany but still relies on coal to replace Russian energy supplies while renewables earnings have fallen.

The German Association of Transmission System Operators (FNB Gas), has outlined the future role of liquefied natural gas facilities at the coastal locations of the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River and at the Baltic Port of Lubmin.

Gasunie, the Dutch utility and LNG import terminal shareholder in the Netherlands and Germany, said it was working on options to increase LNG with further expansion of the existing capacity off the North Sea port at Eemshaven and at the Gate facility in Rotterdam.

Gasunie admitted that a recently announced feasibility study had shown that a new floating LNG terminal in the port of Terneuzen in the Dutch Zeelandic region was not feasible in the short term.

“In this study, Gasunie is working closely with Vopak,” said the utility in reference to the Dutch storage company and its partner in the Rotterdam terminal.

“The aim of realising temporary LNG import capacity in Terneuzen in the short term and for a limited period proved to be technically and commercially unfeasible,” explained Gasunie.

“It is therefore unwise to embark on the construction of a temporary additional terminal,” it added.

“Gasunie thanks its project partners and stakeholders in Zeeland for the good cooperation in the study phase,” stated Groningen-based Gasunie.

Brunsbüttel stake

Gasunie is additionally a shareholder in the proposed German onshore LNG import terminal at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River.

Its partners in Brunsbüttel are the German utility RWE and the German federal finance agency, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).

Gasunie said that the exploration of a new floating LNG terminal in the Netherlands is part of a broader package of proposed measures to increase LNG import capacity.

“This is necessary to cope with the loss of Russian natural gas and reduce scarcity of gas in the European market,” said the company.

Gasunie said it would continue to explore new opportunities for import capacity.

“For example, work is now continuing on initiatives to further expand the existing capacity of the LNG terminals in the Netherlands at Maasvlakte (Gate terminal) and in Eemshaven,” said the company.

“At the Gate terminal, this involves a possible fourth tank with a capacity of 4 billion cubic metres of natural gas and at Eemshaven, a technical optimisation of the existing plant is being investigated,” it added.

“The ambition of EemsEnergy Terminal is to be able to handle 9 billion cubic metres of natural gas before the end of this year and then to grow to 10 Bcm,” stated Gasunie.

Germany’s first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the “Neptune”, has entered Mukran Port on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen to eventually supply LNG via the privately-held Lubmin project being developed by Deutsche ReGas GmbH.

Many German companies in the manufacturing sector have been cutting back on natural gas with only minor restrictions on production, though they will face more difficulties in the future as gas prices surged and a new survey outlined possible problems.

Germany, which is marginally increasing its LNG import plans to replace Russian natural gas, has also come up with a Greens Party-inspired move to give up at least 2 percent of German “Lebensraum” for onshore giant wind turbines.

Royal Vopak, the Netherlands-based global storage company with four stakes in liquefied natural gas terminals and a new LNG import project for Hong Kong, said the German Federal Government would be replacing Vopak as a shareholder in the proposed German LNG terminal at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River.

Germany, the world’s fourth-largest consumer of coal and which is celebrating the near completion of the controversial Nord Stream II gas pipeline from Russia, is set for a week of protests by environmental and left-wing activists - at the site of what will be the country’s first LNG import terminal.

Police said that the protesters were setting up a camp and plan blockades and other activities on approach roads to the LNG terminal location at Brunsbüttel from July 29 to August 2.

“It is assumed that most of the participants in the ‘climate camp’ will express their protest peacefully,” a spokesman for the Schleswig-Holstein state police told the Germany news agency DPA.

The state police said that several hundred officers would be on duty at the LNG terminal site from July 28 through August 2.

The developers of the Brunsbüttel terminal have received all of their regulatory permits.

However, since the terminal’s engineering phase gathered pace, the state Greens party has called for the project to be halted, claiming that it would a centre for the import of US LNG made from feed-gas that was a product of hydraulic fracturing.

German natural gas supplies mostly come from Russia's Gazprom and the Nord Steam I and new Nord Stream II projects and from offshore fields in Norwegian waters.

Elbe River

Brunsbüttel, on the Elbe River near Hamburg, is the most advanced of just two terminals moving forward.

The second terminal is west of Hamburg and also on the Elbe at the town of Stade.

The Brunsbüttel terminal is scheduled to be commissioned around July 2024 and the Stade facility a year later.

The Brunsbüttel joint venture is owned by two Dutch companies, Gasunie LNG Holding BV and Royal Dutch Vopak, as well as Oiltanking GmbH, a subsidiary of Marquard & Bahls AG, based in Hamburg.

The aim of the joint venture is to build and operate a multifunctional import and distribution terminal for LNG.

The terminal will also provide a wide range of services including the loading and unloading of LNG carriers, the temporary storage of LNG, regasification, feeding natural gas into the German natural gas network, and distribution of LNG via tank trucks and LNG railcars.

The developers opted for the location at Brunsbüttel because of its proximity to Hamburg and the many manufacturing companies based in the region.