Germany to have two more floating LNG import terminals in operation by winter – operator

Two additional floating import terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) are due to go into operation before the winter in Germany, state-owned operating company Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) told news agency dpa. The company did not specify the expected commissioning date, which is already delayed by months compared to initial plans. Work is still underway in both Wilhelmshaven and Stade, both situated on the coast of the state of Lower Saxony.

There are currently three active temporary LNG terminals in Germany (Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbüttel and on the island of Rügen) with four ships –so-called Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs) – in use. Together, these supply between five and 12 percent of the gas consumed in the country each month (about 45% of the gas Germany uses comes from Norway through pipelines, 4% from the Netherlands, 5% is domestic production, and the rest arrives through pipelines from western neighbours, where the origin is difficult to determine).

The war in Ukraine has pushed Germany to diversify its gas supply away from Russia. Aside from increased imports from Norway, the government decided to support 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.

Environmental activists and researchers have criticised the country’s LNG push, arguing the plans are outsized and put national and European climate targets at risk.