LNG

Deutsche Regas GmbH, the operator of the floating liquefied natural gas import terminal at the Baltic Sea port of Lubmin, said a vessel carrying LNG for a second German Baltic regasification terminal had arrived at the port of Mukran on Germany’s largest island of Rügen to begin commissioning.

The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) “Energos Power” docked at Mukran on the tourist island of Rügen on February 24.

The “Energos Power” is 300 metres in length and is part of a plan to provide adequate natural gas to replace pipeline gas previously received from Russia’s Gazprom.

Deutsche Regas said the “Energos Power” with 174,000 cubic metres capacity had formerly been called the “Transgas Power” and was carrying LNG sourced from Equinor’s liquefaction plant at Hammerfest in northern Norway.

Pipeline to mainland

The Mukran floating LNG operations include a 50 kilometres (31 miles) pipeline that will transport the regasified LNG to the mainland and into the German gas grid.

“As promised, we will begin transferring natural gas from Mukran to Germany's gas transmission network with the ‘Energos Power’ FSRU,” said Deutsche ReGas Chief Executive Stephan Knabe.

“I would like to thank everyone involved, our partner companies and especially our employees for the tireless work and close and constructive cooperation on the project,” Knabe added.

“The ‘Energos Power’ will now enable trial operations to test all land and seaborne systems and to make them all fully operational,” the CEO stated.

The project was also praised as positive for Germany by the Social Democrat (SPD) Commissioner for eastern Germany, Carsten Schneider. He said the floating LNG project was an energy bonus for the Baltic Coast region of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

“The Rügen terminal will guarantee Germany's energy independence as well as that of numerous companies,” Carsten explained about the Mukran project that had overcome opposition from environmental activists opposed to fossil fuels.

Opposition

German environmental groups such as Environmental Action Germany (DUH) had accused Deutsche Regas of turning the popular holiday island of Rügen into a “fossil fuel” energy park.

Opponents had fought the Mukran project for more than a year, arguing that Germany's strategic natural gas reserves were already secured with other LNG import terminals.

Currently, other FSRUs are operating at nearby Lubmin, at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven and at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe and with a fifth proposed for the port of Stade, also located on the Elbe between Hamburg and Cuxhaven.

Deutsche Regas noted that by mid-year 2024 the FSRU “Neptune” currently deployed at Lubmin would be moved to Mukran to operate alongside the “Energos Power”.

FSRUs in Germany

The other vessels involved in German FLNG projects so far include the Höegh LNG FSRUs “Höegh Esperanza” at Wilhelmshaven and “Hoegh Gannet” at Brunsbüttel as well as the “Neptune”, partly owned by Höegh LNG and chartered to TotalEnergies, and currently operating at the port of Lubmin.

Another ship, a floating storage unit (FSU), the “Seapeak Hispania”, was also anchored near Lubmin to transfer cargoes to the “Neptune” via small-scale LNG carriers.

The Brunsbüttel FSRU is part of LNG operations run by RWE as a forerunner to an onshore terminal being developed by Dutch utility Gasunie, RWE and with a stake held by a German state bank.

Gazprom, the Russian natural gas supplier hit by Western sanctions over the Ukraine invasion, saw its shares drop on the Moscow stock exchange after the board said the company would not be paying a dividend to shareholders as it reported a profits plunge.

French and Spanish engineering companies have been awarded the contract for the onshore LNG import terminal being developed at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River north of Hamburg.

Liquefied natural gas and pipeline market prices in Europe rebounded with the benchmark Dutch Title Transfer Facility gaining ground on the week even amid ample supplies in storage, firm Atlantic Basin LNG cargo flows and seasonally milder weather, while there was still a lack of a serious demand upturn for North Asian spot LNG cargoes, though prices were firm.

Jan 12 (LNGJ) - Two LNG cargoes are scheduled to arrive in Germany before the end of January, according to shipping data. Both shipments are headed for the floating LNG import terminal at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven and are expected to berth on January 22 and January 30.

   One shipment is scheduled to arrive on the 174,100 cubic metres capacity “Diamond Gas Victoria” after being lifted from the Cameron LNG export plant in Louisiana on January 7. A second shipment is headed for Wilhelmshaven from Angola in southwest Africa on board the 154,950 cubic metres capacity vessel “Malanje” . The Angolan shipment was lifted on January 11.

Spanish terminals and network operator Enagás loaded Germany's first floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the “Höegh Esperanza”, before it arrived on December 15 at the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven. 

Trafigura, the global commodities company and a liquefied natural gas market player, has entered a $3 billion loan deal for four years and underwritten by the German Federal Government to help secure LNG cargoes for Germany.

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.

The German Association of Gas Transmission System Operators (FNB Gas), which groups a dozen companies overseeing 40,000 kilometres of natural gas pipeline flows and other infrastructure, has published its development and implementation plan through 2030, including up to 200 gas projects and provisions for just two LNG import terminals.