In the fight against the impending gas shortage, a milestone could soon be reached. According to a report, the first floating LNG terminal in front of Germany’s arts should start before Christmas.
As the “Spiegel” writes, the energy giant Uniper expects the terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Wilhelmshaven to be “ready” before Christmas. Uniper boss Klaus-Dieter Maubach confirmed this to the magazine.
Up to 7.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas are to be handled there every year. This corresponds to around eight percent of Germany’s total energy requirements, according to the “Spiegel”.
But: “Everything depends on the weather,” says Maubach. For example, heavy waves on the high seas could delay commissioning. And that for several weeks.
The LNG terminals are intended to make Germany’s energy supply more independent of gas deliveries through pipelines. The German gas storage facilities are currently well stocked. The gas storage association assumes that on November 1st only one natural gas storage facility in Germany will be less than 95 percent full. All others could be above the filling level prescribed in the Energy Industry Act by the reporting date, said the managing director of the storage association Initiative Energies Storage (Ines), Sebastian Bleschke, on Thursday of the German Press Agency.
According to Bleschke, the largest German storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, will probably not be able to reach 95 percent by the reporting date for technical reasons. It was last filled to 89.73 percent. According to the European storage operators, the total level in Germany was 97.77 percent.
However, there is still a threat of shortages for the winter after next. In the coming year, the Russian company Gazprom will probably only deliver gas to Germany in small quantities. The floating natural gas terminals are intended to prevent this, and three more LNG terminals are planned in addition to the project in Wilhelmshaven.
