“It is becoming difficult for LNG in the German market” – Uniper

The energy group Uniper no longer believes in the construction of an LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal in northern German Wilhelmshaven, reports energate messenger. It is not apparent "that investors have much interest in building such an LNG terminal in Germany", CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach said in an interview with the energate magazine e|m|w. Uniper had abandoned its plans for what could have been Germany’s first domestic LNG import terminal in due to the absence of binding consumer bookings last year. “The response was rather weak," Maubach told e|m|w. “It is becoming difficult for LNG to be competitive in the German market due to the good supply situation through pipelines - and with Nord Stream 2 another one is coming,” the CEO said.

Newspaper tageszeitung (taz) reports that plans for another LNG terminal in the city of Rostock on the Baltic Sea have also been abandoned. Russian investor Novatek had stopped the project to build a terminal, which would have directly supplied ships and trucks with LNG instead of feeding it into the country’s gas grid.

Germany has a well-developed natural gas pipeline grid, but so far it does not have its own import terminal for liquefied natural gas. Even if there is no immediate financial incentive to replace pipeline imports with LNG, there are a range of political and energy strategy concerns that could make more autonomy in the gas sector attractive for Germany. The development of two LNG terminal projects continues in Stade and Brunsbüttel.