LNG

Tree Energy Solutions (TES), the future energy hub developer at the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven, said regulators had exempted the planned onshore liquefied natural gas terminal within the “Green Energy Hub” from tariff and third-party access regulations for a period of 20 years from the start of operations.

TotalEnergies, one of the leading global liquefied natural gas market participants and with plans to re-start the onshore Mozambique LNG export project and expand Papua New Guinea LNG, reported a 12 percent increase in first-quarter net profits compared with the 2022 quarter even amid a softening of oil and gas prices.

Macquarie Capital, the investment banking arm of the Australian Macquarie bank group, said it would continue to work with Deutsche ReGas GmbH, the German owner of the floating LNG terminal at the Baltic port of Lubmin as the company plans to expand its operations.

Deutsche ReGas had earlier proposed to more than double the 5.2 billion cubic metres of regasification capacity by 2025, though now has plans for a slightly earlier expansion and investment.

Macquarie’s stake in German LNG is being overseen by a dedicated but operationally independent subsidiary of the Sydney-based bank called WaveCrest Energy LLC.

“The WaveCrest management team has an established track record of bringing LNG and related energy projects from concept to operations, utilizing its deep technical and operating experience with FSRU assets,” said a statement.

“Macquarie Capital and WaveCrest will continue to look for further opportunities to work with Deutsche ReGas as the business looks to more than double the Ostsee (Baltic)  terminal’s regasification capacity,” Macquarie added.

Multiple projects

Germany is continuing to develop LNG import infrastructure at ports along the coast, also including Wilhelmshaven in the North Sea and the Elbehafen project at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River north of Hamburg.

The build-out of projects will enable the country to have substantial and regular cargo imports to replace Russian pipeline gas volumes.

The Lubmin floating LNG terminal, which has already been feeding gas into the German grid during commissioning operations since the beginning of January, is the first privately financed LNG terminal in Germany.

The Deutsche ReGas project has three small-scale LNG shuttle tankers working between a floating storage unit (FSU) moored near the Baltic port and a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the “Neptune”,’ inside the small inner port at Lubmin.

Deutsche ReGas is now planning to install a second floating LNG terminal by the end of 2023 which, alongside a number of potential capacity upgrades, could increase  Lubmin’s import capacity to 13.5 Bcm of natural gas.

“This would make the potential import capacity of the terminal equivalent to over 14 percent of Germany’s 2021 domestic gas consumption, and over a third of Germany’s forecast LNG import capacity in 2024,” added Macquarie.

Excelerate FSRU veteran

Rob Bryngelson, the CEO of of the Macquarie WaveCrest unit based in Houston, noted that that the banks portfolio LNG company was only created in 2021, though has one of the most experienced LNG management teams in the business,

Bryngelson himself is the former CEO of US LNG FSRU specialist Excelerate Energy and he said the team had worked to complete 13 floating LNG import projects over 15 years.

“WaveCrest Energy is pleased to be part of such a technically challenging and economically important project for Germany,” explained Bryngelson.

“We are well positioned to provide smart capital to projects by combining the strength of our owner, Macquarie Capital, with our team’s industry-leading expertise,” he declared.

Stephan Knabe, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche ReGas, noted that the company was gratified to have the support of the Australian bank as wel as WaveCrest.

“We would like to thank Macquarie Capital and the WaveCrest team for supporting our project,” said Knabe.

“With their expertise, they played a significant role in enabling us to officially open the LNG terminal on January 14. We hope for more successful cooperation,” added Knabe.

Nicholas Gole, Senior Managing Director at Macquarie Capital, said he was delighted to work with Deutsche ReGas to help develop a vital new energy supply solution for Germany.

“In these challenging times, we need sustainable, pragmatic, and timely energy solutions, and we will continue to look for opportunities to support other important energy projects like the ‘Deutsche Ostsee’ venture,” stated Gole. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German Parliament, the Bundestag, that the nation’s first floating liquefied natural gas terminal was ready for operations and the first LNG carrier would arrive on December 17 at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.

QatarEnergy Chief Executive Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said the soaring cost of energy was “weighing painfully” on the world economy and eroding support among the general public for the transition to “green energy” while boosting coal-burning in the world’s leading economies.

Sept 28 (LNGJ) - Deutsche ReGas, the company planning to develop and operate the Deutsche Ostsee LNG terminal at Lubmin on the Baltic Sea Coast, has launched two open seasons. The company said that a binding open season for Phase I of the Deutsche Ostsee floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) project comprising the first vessel and a non-binding market test for Phase II and the second FSRU would both be held from October 10.

   “In Phase I from December 1, 2022, the floating LNG terminal (FSRU 1) will be located in the port of Lubmin with 4.5 billion cubic metres of capacity and will be connected to the transmission network via a new pipeline,” said Deutsche Regas. “In Phase II, starting in December 2023, another floating LNG terminal (FSRU 2) will be deployed offshore,” added the company.

The state government in the German state of Lower Saxony has decided to co-finance an LNG import project called the Hanseatic Energy Hub GmbH and located in the port of Stade on the Elbe River as confusion surrounded the exact number of ventures moving forward in Germany and their start-up dates.