LNG

Dutch utility Gasunie, whose network and assets include over 17,000 kilometres of pipelines in the Netherlands and Germany as well as stakes in Dutch and German LNG import facilities, reported a plunge in first-half earnings as the Dutch continued to show dependence on LNG amid the green obsessions and over-regulation of the European Union.

Jan 8 (LNGJ) - Klaipėdos Nafta, the operator of the LNG import terminal in the Baltic state of Lithuania, will now become the commercial manager of four German LNG terminals. “KN Energies AB has kicked off the year 2024 by securing the public tenders for the commercial management of four German terminals,” said KN Energies.

   The Lithuanians said that on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, they would operate the existing floating facility at the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven as a well as a planned second facility. They would also operate the Brunsbüttel terminal on the Elbe and would additionally be responsible for the planned LNG terminal in the Port of Stade on the Lower Elbe.

The German Federal Government enjoyed full public support for floating LNG terminals fast-tracked in 2022 and early 2023 for North Sea, Elbe River and Baltic port projects, though is now facing opposition for a fifth out of six proposed floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) to be deployed at Rügen, Germany’s largest island in the Baltic Sea.

German Chancellor Helmut Scholz has led an inauguration ceremony for the nation’s first LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the “Höegh Esperanza”, at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.

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.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her natural gas and energy ties to Russia during her 16-year tenure, including the building of the Nord Stream II gas pipeline from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany where LNG will soon replace Gazprom supplies.

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.

Many German companies in the manufacturing sector have been cutting back on natural gas with only minor restrictions on production, though they will face more difficulties in the future as gas prices surged and a new survey outlined possible problems.

The Trading Hub Europe (THE) GmbH of Germany has launched an invitation to bid for the provision of natural gas balancing services in the period from January 2023 through March 2023 to meet its long-term balancing requirements in the multi-quality German market area.

The German Federal Ministry of Economics has rejected claims that the natural gas reserves for the coming winter were bought at too high a price as the nation prepares to become an LNG importer with expectations of the first facility coming on stream in 2023.