German LNG terminal more expensive than expected – media

The cost of a planned permanent onshore import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in northern Germany is likely to be more than expected and require additional state support, reports public broadcaster NDR. The government has earmarked an additional 200 million euros from the state budget in the coming years for the terminal in Brunsbüttel – on top of the 740 million euros originally planned, a document seen by NDR said. The total investment cost of the project has risen to  1.5 billion euros, with the remainder of the bill to be footed by the companies involved, said the broadcaster. The operating company German LNG initially expected investment costs of around 1.3 billion euros.

The German government has joined as an investor via the state development bank KfW and holds a 50 percent stake. The other half is shared by the energy group RWE and the Dutch state-owned company Gasunie.

The war in Ukraine has pushed Germany’s need to diversify its gas supply away from Russia to the top of the government’s agenda. As part of these efforts, the government has gone full steam ahead in supporting the build-up of the country’s own import infrastructure for LNG. This is made up of temporary so-called floating terminals – ships which only require limited new port infrastructure – and more permanent onshore terminals with bigger capacity. Construction on another controversial terminal at Stade in the state of Lower Saxony began in summer 2024.

Environmental activists and some other experts have criticised the country’s LNG push, arguing the plans are outsised and put national and European climate targets at risk. “The fact that taxpayers' money is being invested in the land-based Brunsbüttel LNG terminal is absurd because a gas crisis has long been averted,” said Sascha Müller-Kraenner, managing director of NGO DUH. “In addition, the demand for gas is falling even in the economy ministry’s own scenarios, meaning that this project with its lifespan of at least 30 years is definitely not needed.”

There are currently three active floating LNG terminals in Germany (Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel and Baltic Energy Gate), which together supply between 5 – 12 percent each month of the gas consumed in the country (about 45% from Norway, 4% from the Netherlands, 5% domestic production, the rest through pipeline imports from western neighbours where the origin is difficult to say).