Germany Boosts Energy Security With New LNG Terminal

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

The German port of Wilhelmshaven is launching its second LNG terminal to process imported liquefied natural gas, Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET), the state operator of the facility, said on Thursday.  

Wilhelmshaven 02 will commence commercial operations on August 29, following a successful commissioning phase, DET said, adding that the new LNG terminal has received approvals from the Oldenburg Trade Supervisory Authority (GAA) without any objections.

Wilhelmshaven is the site of the first German LNG terminal, which began operations in December 2022, via the Höegh Esperanza Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU). 

Germany has installed several floating LNG import terminals since 2022—to make Europe’s biggest economy “independent of Russian gas”.

Until the middle of 2022, Germany received most of its gas from Russia via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline before Russia axed deliveries in early September 2022, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.

The sabotage on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 occurred at the end of the same month.

After the Russian gas supply stopped, Norway became Germany’s top natural gas supplier, and supplies are coming via pipelines. 

LNG terminals are being used for imports of gas from the United States and other major producers of the super-chilled fuel, and Wilhelmshaven 02 now adds to these. 

“The Wilhelmshaven02 terminal, with the FSRU Excelsior, is now fully operational and can contribute to security of supply and to filling the gas storage facilities before the next heating season,” DET said in a statement. 

This year, FSRU Excelsior is expected to feed up to 1.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas into the German gas grid—equal to the annual natural gas consumption for heating 1.5 million four-person households in multi-family homes. In the two subsequent years, Excelsior’s regasification and grid feed-in capacity will reach capacity equivalent to the annual heating energy of up to 3.7 million households.