LNG

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has agreed to work with Germany’s largest utility RWE on delivering up to 1 mtpa of LNG for up to 10 years to Germany and other European markets. The envisaged volume corresponds to up to 12 cargoes of LNG and up to 1.4 bcm of natural gas per year, under a framework agreement signed Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Group CEO of ADNOC and chairman of Masdaar and RWE CEO Markus Krebber.

LNG is a controversial topic in Germany: Green paint was thrown at the back entrance of Berlin’s luxury Hotel Adlon at the opening day of the Global LNG Summit while Stefan Wenzel, state secretary to Germany’s economy minister Robert Habeck spoke just prior to a panel with top executives from Cheniere Energy, ADNOC Gas, Shell and bp.

Construction of an onshore LNG import terminal at Brunsbüttel is more expensive than expected, forcing Germany to support it with another €200 million in federal funding – on top of the €740 million initially committed. Broadcaster NDR reports total costs now surpass €1,5 billion, instead of €1.3 billion, with private investors having to shoulder most of the overrun.  

The German Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has rejected the first of two appeals brought by farmers in Northern Germany over the temporary confiscation of their land so that natural gas pipelines could be constructed and linked to an existing floating LNG import terminal at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River and a planned onshore terminal nearby.

Gasunie, the Dutch utility and LNG import terminal shareholder in the Netherlands and Germany, said it was working on options to increase LNG with further expansion of the existing capacity off the North Sea port at Eemshaven and at the Gate facility in Rotterdam.

Gasunie admitted that a recently announced feasibility study had shown that a new floating LNG terminal in the port of Terneuzen in the Dutch Zeelandic region was not feasible in the short term.

“In this study, Gasunie is working closely with Vopak,” said the utility in reference to the Dutch storage company and its partner in the Rotterdam terminal.

“The aim of realising temporary LNG import capacity in Terneuzen in the short term and for a limited period proved to be technically and commercially unfeasible,” explained Gasunie.

“It is therefore unwise to embark on the construction of a temporary additional terminal,” it added.

“Gasunie thanks its project partners and stakeholders in Zeeland for the good cooperation in the study phase,” stated Groningen-based Gasunie.

Brunsbüttel stake

Gasunie is additionally a shareholder in the proposed German onshore LNG import terminal at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River.

Its partners in Brunsbüttel are the German utility RWE and the German federal finance agency, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).

Gasunie said that the exploration of a new floating LNG terminal in the Netherlands is part of a broader package of proposed measures to increase LNG import capacity.

“This is necessary to cope with the loss of Russian natural gas and reduce scarcity of gas in the European market,” said the company.

Gasunie said it would continue to explore new opportunities for import capacity.

“For example, work is now continuing on initiatives to further expand the existing capacity of the LNG terminals in the Netherlands at Maasvlakte (Gate terminal) and in Eemshaven,” said the company.

“At the Gate terminal, this involves a possible fourth tank with a capacity of 4 billion cubic metres of natural gas and at Eemshaven, a technical optimisation of the existing plant is being investigated,” it added.

“The ambition of EemsEnergy Terminal is to be able to handle 9 billion cubic metres of natural gas before the end of this year and then to grow to 10 Bcm,” stated Gasunie.

The German Government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to safeguard two planned FSRU terminals’ gas supplies. 

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

Uniper, the German energy company and utility, has launched an open season to test interest in Germany's first liquefied natural gas import terminal planned for the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.

German LNG Terminal, the joint venture company developing the European nation’s first regasification facility at Brunsbuettel on the Elbe River near the port of Hamburg said it had reached another long-term commercial capacity agreement.

German energy utility RWE has signed a fully termed and binding LNG supply agreement with Australian LNG plant operator Woodside Petroleum with the primary shipments coming from Woodside’s contracted volumes booked at the US Corpus Christi LNG export plant in Texas.