The terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) on the North Sea coast are scheduled to go into operation at the turn of the year. So that the gas supply with the imported natural gas can also start quickly, Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck has now signed a declaration of intent with the gas importers, which is intended to ensure the supply.
Until March 2024 "full capacity"
The planned terminals in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel have a pipeline connection to feed the imported LNG into the German gas network, as Habeck explained in Berlin. According to the agreement, the partner companies Uniper, RWE, EnBW and the EnBW subsidiary VNG will ensure that the LNG ships rented by the federal government are provided with gas “at full capacity” until March 2024.
According to Habeck, the companies have "gas contracts with around 20 countries." They would have "every opportunity to get gas on the world market and have done so". The special ships would be fully utilized from this winter. According to the Federal Ministry of Economics, 12.5 billion cubic meters of gas can be obtained from regions that cannot be reached by gas pipelines. Uniper is the operator of the terminal in Wilhelmshaven. The terminal in Brunsbüttel is operated by German LNG Terminal GmbH.
Floating tanks for LNG
The two so-called floating terminals are to be connected in winter. The floating ports are essentially liquefied gas tankers, but they can convert the fuel back into the gaseous state themselves. This means that a complete port is not required, but primarily only a connection from the ship to the pipeline on land. The government has rented a total of four of the special ships.
To ensure that the terminals on the North Sea coast can still go into operation in winter, an accelerated planning and approval process was carried out.
According to the federal government, two more terminals in Stade, Lower Saxony, and Lubmin, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, will not be able to start operations until the end of 2023. A private consortium is also planning to build a fifth terminal in Lubmin on the Baltic Sea.
Reduce dependency on Russian gas
The terminals are designed to help reduce dependence on Russian natural gas. According to Federal Minister of Economics Habeck, this would make Germany "less susceptible to blackmail". Russia had repeatedly curtailed deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline.
Together with the planned savings of around 20 percent, the terminals should ensure that Germany gets through the coming winter without a gas bottleneck.
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