Wilhelmshaven/Brunsbüttel/Lubmin It should not be the only rescue, but at least an important support if Russia closes the pipelines: liquefied natural gas (LNG) from other sources. Germany also buys the raw material that can be transported by ship in large quantities on the world market – wherever something is available.
So far, the gas has had to be forwarded from the countries of arrival after being regasified. It is currently arriving in ports in France and the Netherlands, for example. The Federal Republic does not yet have its own terminals. That should change quickly, but not all applicant locations in the north have similar perspectives and planning statuses.
The first LNG plant is to be built in the city on the Jade Bay in Lower Saxony. On July 1, the energy group Uniper – itself under great pressure due to falling Russian supplies – received approval. A floating terminal is to be connected as a transitional measure before a permanent transhipment point is added later.
The construction work recently got underway. If everything goes according to plan, the state of Lower Saxony is calculating with a possible start of operations from December 21st. The sometimes lengthy and complex procedures with the authorities are said to have been significantly accelerated. According to Uniper, it took a good month from submitting the relevant application papers to early approval. The company generally aims to be able to operate the LNG terminal in winter.
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Up to 7.5 billion cubic meters per year are to be handled via the Wilhelmshaven facility for receiving, temporarily storing and converting the heavily cooled natural gas – 8.5 percent of the current German gas requirement. Lower Saxony’s Energy Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) is hoping for a second terminal here, which he believes could possibly accommodate LNG as early as 2023.
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In addition to the construction of the landing sites and the anchoring of special tankers, the integration into the national distribution network is important. At the end of June, the State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology issued its approval for a 26-kilometer pipeline operated by the network operator Open Grid Europe from Wilhelmshaven to the Etzel connection point.
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Long before Russia’s attack on Ukraine put the topic of LNG on the political agenda, a private consortium in Stade, also in Lower Saxony, began preparing a terminal in the vicinity of the chemical park with the US company Dow. A capacity of 13.3 billion cubic meters per year is planned. “From 2026 we can cover up to 15 percent of German gas requirements with LNG and low-carbon energy sources such as bio-LNG and synthetic natural gas,” said the Managing Director of the Hanseatic Energy Hub, Johann Killinger, in April.
A swimming terminal is also conceivable here. The state government supports the plans, especially since Stade is well connected and the chemical park consumes a lot of electricity. Lies wants rapid implementation: “Everything is actually clear in Stade, we could order material tomorrow.”
Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) recently even estimated that it could be possible to replace Russian gas entirely with LNG arriving in Lower Saxony by the third quarter of 2023.
Brunsbuettel
A swimming terminal is also scheduled to start work at the mouth of the Elbe this year. According to the network operators Schleswig-Holstein Netz and Gasunie Deutschland, a three-kilometer pipeline will be built from the port of Brunsbüttel to the Schleswig-Holstein Netz transport pipeline in the fourth quarter, thereby connecting the terminal to the European gas network. Up to four billion cubic meters of natural gas could be fed into the grid each year.
The Federal Ministry of Economics recently said that a start in Brunsbüttel at the beginning of 2023 is conceivable. There are no other agreements on other locations besides Wilhelmshaven I, but there are charter commitments for a total of four LNG floating terminals.
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At the same time, German LNG Terminal GmbH is planning a permanent facility in Brunsbüttel. This is expected to go into operation in 2026 and will have two LNG tanks for 165,000 cubic meters each and a regasification system. Up to eight billion cubic meters of natural gas per year could be processed, in the future up to ten billion cubic meters. It is a joint project of the Reconstruction Loan Corporation (KfW) with Gasunie and the RWE Group.
Hamburg
A temporary LNG terminal is currently being tested at the former Moorburg coal-fired power plant and in the Kattwyk port. According to the assessment of the environmental authority, the location is basically well suited because only about 300 meters of lines would have to be built. However, there are still questions to be clarified regarding safety and the disruption to shipping traffic in the port. The first test results should be available at the end of July, the detailed planning in October. If everything goes as hoped, eight billion cubic meters of gas could be landed from the first quarter of 2023 for a maximum of two to three years.
Rostock and Lubmin
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania’s state government has been campaigning with the federal government for a long time to set up LNG terminals at the Rostock seaport and in Lubmin. Theoretically, the state and federal government could also try to use the facility in Świnoujście on the border in Poland, but nothing is known about this so far.
In the western Pomeranian town of Lubmin, the private company Deutsche Regas wants to use a floating terminal to import LNG on a large scale. As of December, the medium-sized company announced plans to feed up to 4.5 billion cubic meters a year into the German transmission network. Due to the relatively low water depth of the Greifswalder Bodden, however, large tankers cannot call at the port of Lubmin, so the liquid gas is to be brought to the floating terminal in the port with smaller ships. The German-Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 also arrive in Lubmin.
Current and potential suppliers
Germany and other European customers currently receive their LNG mainly from the USA, where a lot of natural gas is obtained using the controversial fracking process. The mixtures, consisting mainly of methane, are then compacted and ultra-deep frozen for transport before returning to their normal state at their destination. Qatar is also one of the largest LNG exporters. Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck tried to find new supply relationships on a trip in the spring. It is currently questionable whether, when and how much more gas will actually come from the emirate.
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According to reports, Qatar wants long-term contracts. However, Germany wants to use LNG in the energy transition more as a “bridging solution” as long as there is still too little green electricity and alternative heat carriers. A lot of CO2 is also released when natural gas is burned. And the fact that existing contracts from countries with high Qatari import shares often run for longer periods can also drive prices up: Germany also buys the quantities that are otherwise available, especially on “spot markets”, which sometimes offer more expensive short-term dates.
The environmental concerns
Despite – or perhaps because of – the tight schedule for the LNG projects, there has also been criticism. Environmental groups fear that ecological tests could no longer be carried out with the necessary thoroughness. The German Environmental Aid also complained that the extent of the need for terminals had not been precisely proven.
Uniper assured that all environmental investigations in Wilhelmshaven would be carried out as required. “Higher speed does not mean poor quality,” said the manager responsible for investment planning, Holger Kreetz, of the dpa. Lies also assured that. There are several objections to the connecting pipeline to Etzel.
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