LNG

European natural gas markets are exploring more imaginative LNG and pipeline natural gas deals with land-locked Austria securing a five-year agreement for the supply of gas volumes into the newest LNG importing nation Germany’s virtual gas trading hub.

One of the companies involved in the German North Sea liquefied natural gas import project at Wilhelmshaven has announced an open season to fast-track LNG imports into Germany and the European Union.

German utility E.ON has formed a partnership with Belgian start-up Tree Energy Solutions (TES) to develop the North Sea facility and TES has announced the open season to gauge interest.

The Wilhelmshaven plan revolves around the construction of a new “green gas” terminal at the port which will initially accept shipments of mainly LNG to help reduce Germany’s reliance on Russian pipeline gas before a “green hydrogen” solution is safely developed by 2030 or later.

E.ON has signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Future Industries to import to Europe up to five million tonnes of “green hydrogen” from Australia or other locations by 2030.

Until then the North Sea facility will have to make do with LNG and TES has asked for LNG regasification capacities, shipment offers or other ideas in the consultation.

“The open season is accessible to all parties seeking to import LNG in the drive to reduce EU and Germany energy dependence on Russia,” said a statement.

Expressions of interest

“Parties are invited to submit an expression of interest to reserve capacity and services for the import of LNG volumes,” it added.

TES is planning for initial capacity to import up to 16-20 billion cubic metres per annum of natural gas from 2025 onwards.

The terminal will be connected through a pipeline to the European high-pressure gas grid.

“Terminal and pipeline capacity may be further expanded through the integration of further LNG tanks and commissioning of a second export pipeline,” it added.

“The expansion's timing and size will be determined by market demand for LNG imports from 2025 onwards, as well as the planned transition to green and clean, hydrogen-based gas,” it explained.

“To help decarbonise Germany and neighbouring markets, from 2027-2028 onwards, the Wilhelmshaven regasification terminal will, as part of the Wilhelmshaven Green Energy Hub, increasingly be reserved for imports of fossil-free green gas.,” it stated.

Six berths

According to the developers, the Wilhelmshaven terminal layout will ultimately comprise six ship berths, 1,600,000 cubic metres of onshore storage capacity using eight onsite tanks, of which four will be available during the initial stage.

The terminal also has plans to offer direct access to an extensive gas pipeline network, including existing salt caverns at Etzel and proximity to the Dutch Groningen gas grid infrastructure.

“The TES-Wilhelmshaven project is unique in accelerating Germany’s and Europe’s plans to decarbonise the energy market at scale whilst creating the opportunity to shift away from Russian gas imports as the way out of the current energy crisis,” said Otto Waterlander, Chief Commercial Officer at TES.

“The open season makes it possible to materially meet the needs of the market and will help provide energy security for Germany and the rest of Europe by accelerating the growth of green gas imports,” he added.

Mitsui OSK Lines, the Japanese shipping company with an operating fleet of almost 100 liquefied natural gas carriers, has changed an order with a South Korean shipyard because of the cancellation of the LNG import terminal project for the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.

MOL said its order for a floating storage and regasfication unit (FSRU) with South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) had been altered to a conventional LNG carrier described as “super large”.

The Japanese shipping line was forced to act after German utility Uniper called off the Wilhelmshaven import project.

Mol ordered the FSRU from DSME in May 2020 and subsequently signed a charter on the ordered unit with the Wilhelmshaven project. The FSRU had been planned for delivery by the end of June 2023.

Wilhelmshaven is Germany's only deep-sea port in the North Sea and would have been capable of offloading the largest LNG carriers.

The FSRU for the German port was to have had capacity of 263,000 cubic metres capacity with a unique design tailored to large-scale imports. MOL already has an LNG vessel of similar size, the “MOL FSRU Challenger”.

Uniper, based in Düsseldorf, said at the end of 2020 that it was unlikely to pursue the LNG venture because of several factors, including the reluctance of market players to make binding bookings for import capacities.

Uniper has since then switched its focus to other fuels and under the name “Green Wilhelmshaven”, Uniper is working on a feasibility study for the development of a German hydrogen hub.

Wilhelmshaven was one of two LNG import terminals being planned by Germany at the start of 2020. The second is an onshore facility at Brunsbüttel, a port on the Elbe River, south of Hamburg.

However, with the demise of the Uniper-led Wilhelmshaven LNG project another German import development has come to the fore at the port of Stade, also on the Elbe.

Fluxys, the Belgian natural gas grid company and owner of the Zeebrugge LNG import terminal, has agreed to become a partner and operator for the Stade project, known as the Hanseatic Energy Hub.

Fluxys will be an industrial partner in Hanseatic Energy whose other additional investor is the Partners Group, a Swiss-listed private asset management firm.

Under the development plan, the German terminal will be located about 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Hamburg and be operational by 2026 with capacity of around 8.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

The terminal replacing Wilhelmshaven will also have facilities for reloading LNG carriers, supplying river barges for bunkering as well as truck and rail-loading capability.