Update: Germany's LNG import terminals buildout

Germany is expanding its natural gas import options to replace Russian supply, a drive intensified by the latest suspension of Russian flows via Ukraine and U.S. President Donald Trump targeting Europe with liquefied natural gas exports.

Below are details on terminals being developed to host floating storage regasification units to receive seaborne LNG. Plans also include shore-based regasification terminals and facilities to import and produce ammonia and green hydrogen under decarbonization strategies.

MUKRAN

Mukran, on Ruegen island in the Baltic Sea, supplies onshore grids with LNG via pipeline firm Gascade's new OAL pipeline. Private company Deutsche ReGas started reloading services from the LNG tanker Coral Energy in September, also using smaller tankers to deliver LNG to locations without pipeline access.

This followed the opening of regular operations at the site with FSRUs Energos Power and Neptune.

Gascade completed the 50 km (30 miles) OAL infrastructure a year ago, with existing onshore pipelines NEL, EUGAL and OPAL offering long-distance transport to southward geographies.

ReGas holds long-term supply deals with France's TotalEnergies and trading group MET.

ReGas says it fears that state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET) may undercut its fees to attract cargoes at its more western terminals in the North Sea while business is generally slow.

The Mukran project has triggered local opposition, but legal challenges have been thrown out.

LUBMIN

ReGas and Norwegian LNG-tanker operator Hoegh last June signed an agreement to develop the Baltic Sea port, a forerunner of Mukran, into an ammonia/hydrogen import terminal.

On Oct. 14, the Federal Administrative Court backed Lubmin's operations, throwing out a case brought by environmental group DUH against its permit.

STADE

DET has said in German media reports that FSRUs at both Stade and Wilhelmshaven 2 will start operations in the winter, without specifying precise commissioning dates.

Last June, developers at the Elbe river inland port of Stade formally inaugurated a land-based "ammonia ready" terminal for start in 2027, for which a FID was taken by Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH) in March.

The FSRU Energos Force arrived on March 15 and is expected to operate until 2027, ahead of the onshore terminal starting operations.

The onshore terminal, to be built by Spain's Tecnicas Reunidas TRE.MC, is expected to cost around 1 billion euros ($1.04 billion).

Gas to arrive there has been allocated to state-controlled SEFE, utility EnBW and Czech utility CEZ.

HEH is backed by investment firm Partners Group PGHN.S, logistics group Buss, chemicals company Dow and Spanish grid operator Enagas.

A separate, Buss-led, consortium is nurturing plans for a 100 megawatt (MW) electrolysis plant, to be decided on in 2026, it said in November.

WILHELMSHAVEN

Utility Uniper UN01.DE launched Germany's first FSRU operation, Wilhelmshaven 1, on the North Sea, in 2022.

Uniper plans two green gas systems in the longer term: it will add a land-based ammonia import reception terminal and cracker in the second half of this decade to make green hydrogen.

Last November, it said it had picked U.S. manufacturer Electric Hydrogen as supplier of a 200 MW electrolyser to be fed with local wind power.

Another operator, Tree Energy Solutions (TES), plans a second FSRU, Wilhelmshaven 2 through to 2027, which isn't installed, and says it plans to eventually convert its operations to clean gases.

BRUNSBUETTEL

The Brunsbuettel FSRU went into operation in April 2023 on the North Sea coast, initially chartered and operated by utility RWE's RWEG.DE trading arm before it was handed over to DET at the start of 2024.

It is the forerunner of a land-based LNG facility which has been cleared to receive 40 million euros of state support.

It could start operations at the end of 2026, when a newly inaugurated, adjacent ammonia terminal could also start up.

State bank KfW, Gasunie and RWE are stakeholders and oil major Shell SHEL.L has committed to sizeable purchases.

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