LNG

German LNG Terminal, the Dutch-led joint venture developing a planned liquefied natural gas import terminal at Brunsbuettel on the Elbe River near Hamburg, expects to make an investment decision soon after binding import contracts have been finalised at the end of 2020.

RWE, Germany’s largest utility and power producer and whose headquarters are in the city of Essen, confirmed that it had secured potentially 5 billion cubic metres of import capacity at Brunsbuettel as it also seeks a wider role for the facility.

“Currently the parties are in the final phase of negotiating fully binding legal contracts for LNG imports,” said RWE and German LNG Terminal in a joint statement.

“RWE and German LNG expect this process to be finalised by the end of 2020, putting German LNG in a position to reach a positive investment decision shortly thereafter,” it added.

German LNG Terminal is a venture comprising Dutch gas network operator Gasunie, German tank storage provider Oiltanking GmbH, and Dutch storage company Royal Vopak.

Gasunie and Vopak were the development companies behind the Dutch Gate LNG terminal at the port of Rotterdam.

RWE added that LNG import terminals like Brunsbuettel could also be combined with entry points for (liquid) hydrogen produced in other regions of the world where wind and solar energy are available at larger scale and lower cost than in Germany.

“Existing gas pipelines connected to the LNG terminal are perfectly fit to distribute hydrogen locally,” said RWE.

Javier Moret, Global Head of LNG at RWE Supply & Trading GmbH, said his company was an advocate of LNG.

“It can provide Germany with clean and affordable energy today and at the same time contribute to reducing emissions in the maritime and road transport sector as an alternative fuel,” added Moret.

“At the same time we want to make sure we are prepared for the next technological advancement. In the future hydrogen will play a key role as a climate-neutral fuel in the energy mix,” he explained.

“We are prepared for this next step with the new agreement. Therefore we are happy to support German LNG Terminal’s initiative in this field,” stated Moret.

Currently the parties are in the final phase of negotiating fully binding legal contracts for LNG imports.

RWE and German LNG expect this process to be finalised by the end of 2020, putting German LNG in a position to reach a positive investment decision shortly thereafter.

Another German utility, Uniper, is backing a second German import project at the deepwater North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven using a floating storage and regasification unit.
Uniper has said it expected that a competitive tender process would be conducted in the months ahead to seek binding accords with potential customers

Gaztransport and Technigaz, the French technology designer of LNG maritime and onshore storage systems, has received an order for the tanks to equip the floating storage and regasification unit to be deployed as Germany’s first LNG import terminal at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.

GTT’s order comes from the South Korean shipyard, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering on behalf of the Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), the owner and operator of the ship.

The FSRU will have a capacity of 263,000 cubic metres and will be fitted with the No. 96 membrane cryogenic containment system, a technology developed by GTT.

The vessel delivery is scheduled for 2023 when it will be deployed at Wilhelmshaven.

“We are delighted to be working with DSME and MOL, two very long-term partners, on this new very large capacity FSRU project,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

MOL and a subsidiary of the German utility Uniper signed a contract in May 2020 to build and charter the FSRU.

The FSRU constitutes the heart of the future terminal and will make it possible to offload, store and regasify LNG for the German market.

It will be moored off the coast not far from Wilhelmshaven and will handle incoming LNG tankers there.

Wilhelmshaven is one of two LNG import terminals being planned by Germany.

The  second is an onshore facility at Brunsbüttel, a port on the Elbe River, south of Hamburg.

The regasified natural gas from the Wilhelmshaven FSRU will be transported along a short connecting pipeline under the sea to the port facilities and be fed into the German gas transmission network.

Wilhelmshaven is Germany's only deep-sea port and has the optimal infrastructure for offloading LNG tankers of all sizes.

Uniper has said it expected that a competitive tender process would be conducted in the months ahead to seek binding accords with potential customers.

Pieridae Energy, the developer of the German-backed Goldboro LNG project in the Canadian Atlantic province of Nova Scotia, has had its purchase of Royal Dutch Shell’s midstream and upstream assets in the southern foothills of Alberta blocked by the provincial regulator.

Global Energy Megatrend Ltd., the new owner of the US Magnolia LNG export project, counts among its six named directors, Lord Peter Lilley, a former UK Conservative government minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

The Australian-listed developer of the US Magnolia LNG plant in Louisiana with an export accord to supply cargoes for Vietnam has run out of money and time after a takeover by a private firm from Singapore fell through, along with short-term financing arrangements.

The Australian-listed developer of the US Magnolia export plant in Louisiana with an agreement to supply cargoes to Vietnam said a Singapore-based private company has withdrawn a planned takeover bid.

The Australian-listed developer of the US Magnolia export plant in Louisiana with an agreement to supply cargoes to Vietnam said a takeover bid by a Singapore-based private company has been pushed back to mid-April, while its own temporary financing is not now forthcoming from a US equity and capital fund.

Germany utility and energy company Uniper outlined its strategy of focusing more on pipeline natural gas, LNG and gas-fired power while exiting coal as it swung to an annual profit from a loss the previous year.

Woodside Petroleum, the Australian LNG plant operator, has signed a firm supply agreement with Uniper Global Commodities, a unit of the Germany utility Uniper.

Uniper, the German utility and energy company with an LNG supply agreement with a Canadian project, expects its planned Wilhelmshaven floating import terminal on the North Sea Coast to be online slightly behind the rival Brunsbuettel facility proposed for the Elbe River near the port of Hamburg.