Energy supply
Upload to North Sea LNG terminals higher than on the Baltic Sea
Last year, the LNG import was mainly over the state terminals on the North Sea. These may receive money from the federal government. The competitor complains of distorted competition.
According to operators, Germany’s import terminals on the North Sea for liquid gas (LNG) were busy last year. This was announced by the state German Energy Terminal GmbH (DET) from Düsseldorf. The floating terminals are located in Wilhelmshaven (Lower Saxony) and Brunsbüttel (Schleswig-Holstein).
The number of occupancy numbers for the two floating Baltic Sea terminals does not name their private operator of German regas. Using data from Europe’s gas infrastructure operators GIE, based in Brussels, a lower utilization is emerging.
Most of the LNG arrives in Wilhelmshaven
After a gie statistics, the terminal in Wilhelmshaven dined around 37.5 terawatt hours into the network last year, which is about 21.6 terawatt hours in Brunsbüttel.
According to the data, the Lubmin and Mukran locations accounted for a total of around 8.5 terawatt hours. The German regas initially stationed a terminal ship in Lubmin, but moved it to Mukran during the year and supplemented it there by a second termal ship. Together they have been in regular operation since September. According to German regas, both were out of operation for maintenance work and the completion of the terminal for months.
For the German LNG terminals for 2024, the Gie data result in a total value of 67.6 terawatt hours.
Share of LNG in gas imports further low
The Federal Network Agency from Bonn gives natural gas import via the LNG terminals for the past year on its website slightly higher with 68 terawatt hours. In the previous year, according to the agency, the value was around 69.7 terawatt hours – which corresponds to a decline of around 2.4 percent.
The proportion of liquid gas in the entire gas imports is therefore still low: According to the Federal Network Agency, the proportion was around eight percent last year. Compared to the previous year, this corresponds to an increase of about one percentage point.
Terminals are controversial
The Federal Government had forced the establishment of LNG terminals after the Russian attack on Ukraine in order to become more independent in the face of restricted and ultimately lack of Russian gas deliveries. Because of their costs and environmental impacts, the terminals are controversial.
The German Environmental Aid (DUH), for example, criticized at the beginning of the year that the terminals made “at best a subordinate contribution to security of supply” and did not demand to further expand the LNG infrastructure.
The Federal Ministry of Economics said in the past: “The terminals are essential for the resilience of German and European gas supply in the short and medium term.” Most of the German gas requirements are covered by Norway. Germany is at risk from possible accident or attacks on the corresponding infrastructure.
The terminal in the Baltic Sea plays an important role in the supply of care not only East and southern Germany, but also adjacent neighboring countries due to its geographical location.
Allegations of pricing policy
According to the German regas, the fees for the further transport of the gas by the German remote control network slow down the use of the terminals. So far, the tariff structure is based on long -term and constant deliveries, for example from pipelines. The tariffs elsewhere in Europe are cheaper for short-term LNG deliveries by ship.
With the operator of the North Sea terminals, the DET, the German regas sees itself in an “unequal competition”, as the managing partner Ingo Wagner recently explained. In December, the Federal Government’s EU Commission allowed DET to support more than four billion euros. Since then, the DET has been “a much more aggressive pricing policy,” said Wagner.
The DET offers feed -in capacity far below the fees set by the Federal Network Agency. Wagner calls this an “illegal distortion of competition”. The DET claimed that regulatory requirements are obtained. The auction of regasification capacities at the end of the year served to maintain the operational readiness of the terminals.
More terminals with delay
After the “Germany Tempo”, among other things, Olaf Scholz (SPD), with which the first terminals were approved and built, the further expansion has increasingly stalled.
The DET planned to put two other floating import terminals into operation on the North Sea this year. After delays, the second terminal ship in Wilhelmshaven should feed natural gas by the end of March. The floating terminal in Stade should actually run. In the meantime, the DET no longer gives a date for commissioning.
In the future, the floating terminals will be replaced by parties. The last status is that such a private terminal in Stade and a semi -governmental in Brunsbüttel in 2027 should go into operation. The start of a private terminal in Wilhelmshaven was planned around mid -2028.
Conversion to hydrogen import
Among other things, the federal government had emphasized in the past that the LNG terminals also set the course for hydrogen use. Investors and infrastructure should be used in the future. Critics are vague. The LNG terminal ships, for example, are not suitable for hydrogen import. Planned land -on terminals, on the other hand, should also be suitable for hydrogen derivatives.
In Lubmin, where LNG was formerly landed, the German regas, together with the Norwegian company Högh Evi, plans to land with a new, floating terminal hydrogen and thus use the connection built there. The hydrogen is to be delivered bound in ammonia by ship. According to Högh Evi, commissioning is planned in 2027.
dpa
Source: Stern
