Germany Opens Second LNG Import Terminal
The inauguration took place less than a month after the start-up of Germany's first LNG terminal at Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea. Several more terminals are expected to go online in the coming months, including a second at Lubmin.
As the shallow water port cannot handle large LNG tankers, the gas will be transferred to smaller shuttle ships before being fed into the terminal, regasified and supplied to the grid.
Ingo Wagner, CEO of ReGas, said at the opening ceremony that gas from Lubmin will primarily supply the eastern German market.
French energy and petrochemicals producer TotalEnergies as well as Swiss energy trader MET Group have booked capacity at the facility operated by Deutsche ReGas. Total said it has contracted capacity of 2.6 billion cbm/y for regasification.
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© Deutsche ReGas / Sebastian Frauenlob
In December, the Paris-based company delivered a floating storage and regasification vessel with annual capacity of 5 billion cbm — enough to cover about 5% of German demand – and plans to steadily provide LNG from its global portfolio toward becoming one of the main suppliers.
Since the beginning of the latest energy crisis, Total said it has mobilized its LNG portfolio to send available LNG to Europe and to use its 18 million t/y regasification capacity. With the start-up at Lubmin, the energy giant said it will increase its deliveries to over 20 million t/y, or about 15% of Europe’s annual regasification capacity.
With interests in liquefaction plants in all geographies and an integrated supply chain that includes production and transportation as well as regasification, TotalEnergies regards itself as the world’s third largest LNG player with a market share of around 10% and a global portfolio of about 40 milion t/y.
The company said its ambition is to increase the share of natural gas in its sales mix to 50% by 2030, to reduce carbon emissions and eliminate methane emissions associated with the gas value chain, and to work with local partners to promote the transition from coal to natural gas.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
