LNG

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.

May 23 (LNG) – Germany is planning new interference measures in energy markets. The country’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, who represents the anti-capitalist Greens party in the Social Democrat-led coalition government, plans to introduce more left-wing measures by giving €4 billion ($4.3Bln) of permanent subsidies a year to energy-intensive industries in Germany.

   However, the German Finance Ministry opposes Habeck’s interference in power and commodity markets and the current budget does not allow funds to be redirected to give subsidies to about 80 percent of Germany’s industrial sector. “This price will be calculated on the basis of the average exchange electricity price and then calculated down,” Habeck said. Analysts said that Germany was emerging as a leader of the European Union’s gradual move towards an anti-competitive grants and subsidies economy.

Fortum, the Finnish energy and power company with European Union-wide operations and with plans to give Finland its first floating LNG import terminal, is the majority shareholder in the troubled German utility Uniper but has refused to put any more cash into the Duesseldorf-based company.

German LNG Terminal GmbH, the development company of the Brunsbüttel import facility on the Elbe River south of Hamburg, has signed a preliminary accord with Shell to acquire cargo volumes.

While imports of liquefied natural gas to the European Union and the UK are increasing in January, none of the natural gas is ending up in Germany because there is no LNG infrastructure even amid various plans spanning almost 10 years.