LNG

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 formally opened the nation’s second liquefied natural gas terminal since its reliance on Russian pipeline gas came to a close in 2022 and fast-track developments have been made possible due to the support and know-how in particular of French and Dutch energy and shipping companies.

Deutsche ReGas GmbH, a private company running the floating LNG import project at the German Baltic port of Lubmin to supply 4.5 million tonnes per annum of cargoes, has started a series of complex operations using a variety of vessels as part of its commissioning process.

The port of Lubmin in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is best known as the landfall for the shutdown Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea from Russia.

Lubmin has been chosen by the German Federal Government as one of four coastal hubs for LNG floating storage and regasification (FSRU) imports because of existing German gas grid links.

Deutsche ReGas said that in the first phase of its project the natural gas would be fed into the German long-distance gas pipeline network (EUGAL/NEL), which is only 450 metres away.

The EUGAL gas pipeline was designed to be the onshore extension of the Nord Stream II project that was never started up.

The company also explained that to take account of the shallow depth of the water around the port of Lubmin, another tanker would be stationed outside the shallower approaches to which LNG carriers of up to 170,000 cubic metres would be able to dock and make LNG transfers.

The company explained that from the floating storage unit, three shuttle ships (small LNG carriers) would transport the LNG to the FSRU in the Lubmin industrial port.

Small carriers

The small-scale LNG carrier, the “Coral Furcata” with 10,000 cubic metres capacity arrived at Lubmin on December 30 with the first cargo to be used for commissioning purposes.

“The LNG was previously picked up by the ‘Hispania’, anchored off Rügen, and will now be handed over to the ‘Neptune’, which is in the port, as part of the permitted test operations of the LNG terminal,” explained Deutsche ReGas.

“The test operation is very extensive and complex,” stated the company.

“At sea, the procedures between the FSU anchored off Rügen island and the small-scale LNG carriers must be rehearsed,” it added.

“The manoeuvring of the SLNGCs in the port of Lubmin and the interaction with the tug crews must now also become a reality after previous training,” said Deutsche ReGas.

The company added that the interfaces between the FSRU and the shore connection as well as the FSRU and the shuttle ship must be further prepared and tested.

“During this phase on the ‘Neptune’, all of the processes and systems required for commissioning must be prepared. This is then followed by various operational tests, which usually end with a reliability and endurance test of the feed pumps,” the company said.

Deutsche ReGas said that as part of the test operations, the first quantities of LNG are being regasified and supplied to the German network operator Gascade GmbH.

“But we don't want to call this a feed-in, so as not to build up false expectations here,” the company emphasized.

Stephan Knabe, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche ReGas, said he would like to state that the feed-in, i.e. commercial operation, only begins with the start of regular operations immediately after the successful completion of the test phase and after receipt of the operating permit.

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.

Excelerate Energy, the US floating LNG import terminal specialist, signed a five-year charter agreement in Berlin with the German Government for the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) “Excelsior”.

Deutsche ReGas, a private company that has raised financing from Australian investment bank Macquarie Capital, is run by two businessmen from Potsdam near Berlin and said it aimed to import LNG in the next few months at the Baltic port of Lubmin.