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A private business venture has begun operating its floating terminal to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to help replace Russian gas in East Germany and make a tidy profit.
The tiny coastal town Lubmin in East Germany’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is well-known as it was the spot where Russian gas flowed on land from Siberian gas fields through Nord Stream into the German grid.
Now, it hosts an LNG terminal to help replace flows of gas that once came from Russia.
“We will get through this winter,” explained Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday (14 January) alongside Manuela Schwesig, his SPD party colleague.
Schwesig, who once helped create a “climate” foundation to aid Gazprom in avoiding US sanctions on the construction of Nord Stream 2, stressed Lubmin’s role as an energy “hub.”
The new LNG terminal, a tanker named “Neptune”, is estimated to have an annual import capacity of around 5 billion cubic metres (bcm), less than a tenth of the gas that once flowed through the now-destroyed Nord Stream pipeline.
On 26 September, both pipes of Nord Stream, and one of its siblings, Nord Stream 2, were severely damaged by a mysterious underwater explosion. Prior to the explosion, Russia had slashed gas flows down to almost zero.
Gas shortage averted
Due to gas savings of more than 20% from last year to date, in part due to extremely mild weather as well as increased gas flows from its neighbours, Germany is more comfortable than expected, with stores sitting just below 90% full.
“The gas supply is not compromised. We can guarantee this everywhere in Germany, unlike what many feared for a long time,” Scholz noted.
The new terminal will be run by a private company, “Deutsche ReGas,” which was founded in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and a subsequent rush on alternative gas supplies from global gas markets.
As the port of Lubmin is incapable of hosting the large LNG tankers due to being too shallow, their gas will be transferred to smaller shuttle ships before being fed into the terminal, regasified and then fed into the German grid.
The owners say they primarily want to supply the East German market. “Now we can also finally make our important contribution to supplying Eastern Germany with natural gas,” explained Ingo Wagner, the CEO of ReGas on Saturday.
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
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