Brunsbuettel The planned construction and operation of a terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein is moving further into the distance. Around four years after the project was presented, there is still no date for a final investment decision, as a spokeswoman for the project sponsor German LNG Terminal GmbH told the German Press Agency.
It is a very complex, costly and long-term investment. “In times of the corona pandemic, it is more difficult than ever to make reliable statements about the exact timing of the project, so we continue to refrain from doing so.”
The difficult way out of Russia dependency
According to earlier information, the project, costing around 450 million euros, is one of the most important industrial settlements in the north. So far there is no import terminal for liquefied natural gas in Germany. The abbreviation LNG stands for the English term Liquified Natural Gas.
After the project company was founded in 2018, German LNG had originally promised a binding decision by the investors for the following year. This would be a prerequisite for the responsible state authority in Kiel to be able to decide on the application for planning approval.
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The application for the construction of a port and waterside facilities was submitted at the end of June 2021, when German LNG spoke of a “milestone for the project”. A procedure under the Federal Immission Control Act is also required for onshore LNG storage.
Approval probably not before autumn 2023
According to Economics Minister Bernd Buchholz (FDP), however, “not all the documents are correct”. Therefore, his ministry in Kiel says that, from today’s perspective, approval could not be granted until autumn 2023 at the earliest. “It’s going to be a long way.” Assuming a construction period of around three years, commissioning would not be conceivable until the end of 2026 at the earliest – provided that complaints from environmental organizations do not delay the project any further.
Legal steps could, for example, be initiated by the German Environmental Aid, which made it clear in 2019 that it did not consider the project as the location of an “incident operation” to be approvable.
The Ministry of Economy has long supported the construction of an LNG terminal. Tailwind could also come from Berlin: Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) emphasizes that Germany must create other import options in view of the great importance of Russian gas supplies.
>> Read here: Europe is caught in the natural gas trap – von der Leyen sees a Green Deal as a way out
In Kiel, the Brunsbüttel project as a “national LNG terminal” is also part of the coalition agreement between the CDU, Greens and FDP. However, the government’s term of office will end soon. Schleswig-Holstein elects a new state parliament on May 8th.
The project company for Brunsbüttel is supported by three companies: the gas network operator Gasunie and the tank storage specialist Vopak from the Netherlands as well as Oiltanking GmbH, a subsidiary of Hamburg-based Marquard & Bahls AG.
However, in the autumn, “after a strategic review”, Vopak decided to discontinue “active participation in the German LNG project”, which led to an extraordinary loss of 11.1 million euros for Vopak. However, the financial participation will remain, “while the active personal participation will not be continued”.
More: Climate protectors see Habeck’s commitment to LNG terminals critically – and call for alternatives