LNG

WaveCrest Energy has announced the start of a market consultation process for a proposed Teesside Flexible Regas Port as the UK’s third liquefied natural gas import destination in advance of a planned capacity auction to be launched in the third quarter of 2024.

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.