New terminal planned: Up to five billion cubic meters of LNG

The liquid gas terminal in Wilhelmshaven rented by the federal government is said to have a capacity of up to five billion cubic meters of gas. It is scheduled to go into operation at the end of 2023 and will also be able to process green hydrogen.

Germany is to get a fifth leased terminal for landing liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Wilhelmshaven. This was announced by the Federal Ministry of Economics. The special ship is scheduled to start work in the winter after next, i.e. 2023/2024.

In principle, the floating terminals are liquefied gas tankers, but they can convert the fuel back into the gas state themselves. This means that a complete port is not required, but primarily only a connection to the pipeline on land in addition to the ship.

LNG is deep-frozen at minus 162 degrees, transported in liquid form by ship, landed, heated, regasified and then fed into the networks. “By importing liquefied natural gas, we are making ourselves less dependent on imports of Russian pipeline gas,” said Economics Minister Robert Habeck.

Five billion cubic meters per year

According to the ministry, the floating liquid gas terminal has a capacity of at least five billion cubic meters per year and is scheduled to go into operation in the fourth quarter of next year, i.e. between October and December. The owner, the company Excelerate, is said to operate the ship together with a consortium of Tree Energy Solutions, Eon Green Gas and Engie.

Although it will be chartered for five years, it will only be operated until the hydrogen terminal is up and running, said Habeck. According to the consortium, this should probably be the case in the course of 2025, its ministry said.

Also green hydrogen

In addition, it is also about the landing of “green” hydrogen. For this purpose, normal water is split into hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis – with “green” hydrogen, this is done with the help of green electricity. The federal government recently concluded a major hydrogen agreement with Canada.

In view of the increasingly uncertain Russian natural gas deliveries, the federal government is pushing ahead with the import of liquid gas. So far, however, the necessary import terminals have not been available. In addition to gas savings of around 20 percent and full natural gas storage facilities, the LNG terminals are the third important component so that Germany can get through the winter without gas rationing.

Five state terminals

Two more floating systems in Wilhelmshaven and in Brunsbüttel are therefore scheduled to go into operation at the turn of the year with a pipeline connection for onward transport. According to the ministry, the existing connection services here will enable an average capacity of at least 3.5 billion cubic meters per ship per year next winter. After the construction and commissioning of a new, 55-kilometer-long gas pipeline, the capacity per ship can be increased to at least five billion cubic meters per year from the end of 2023. The two terminals in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven are to be operated by RWE and Uniper.

In addition to Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel for the coming winter, two other terminals were already planned: according to the government, one in Stade and one in Lubmin on the Baltic Sea coast will probably be operational by the end of 2023. In Lubmin, a private consortium has also launched an additional one. This sixth terminal could be available as early as the end of 2022.

Russia cuts gas supplies

Russia, against which the West has imposed sanctions for the attack on Ukraine, recently delivered significantly less gas to Europe than before. Most recently, the Russian state-owned company Gazprom stopped deliveries through the important Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline on Wednesday, citing maintenance work as the reason. According to Gazprom, the maintenance work should be completed on Friday, and then the quantities should be transported through the pipeline again as in the previous weeks.