The third floating LNG terminal in Germany moored in Brunsbüttel on Friday morning. The “Höegh Gannet” Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) is the heart of the plant, as it heats up the liquid gas, which is at -162 degrees Celsius, and feeds it into the transmission network in gaseous form. First of all, a commissioning and trial phase lasting several weeks is now beginning. The first quantities of gas are to be fed in from the beginning of February.
The floating terminal in Schleswig-Holstein is now the third in Germany. The first terminal to be put into operation in Wilhelmshaven (Lower Saxony) has meanwhile started regular operations. In Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, trial operation is underway with the local FSRU. While Lubmin is a completely private-sector project, Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel use FSRUs that were chartered by the Federal Republic of Germany to compensate for the loss of Russian gas supplies.
The graphic shows the steps involved in delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a floating terminal.
Initially only throttled feed
The urgency of the project is already evident in Brunsbüttel from the fact that there should be several transitional states. According to the operator RWE, the ship will initially be operated at an existing dangerous goods dock, where liquid gas and crude oil are also unloaded from other ships. At the end of the year, LNG will be fed in via a new pier, the construction of which will begin in the first quarter of this year.
Due to a pipeline bottleneck, the terminal will initially only be able to feed in 3.5 instead of around 7.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually. That should change when gas network operator Gasunie puts a new connection line called ETL 180 into operation. Only then can the FSRU’s capacities of 12.5 million cubic meters of LNG be fully utilised.
RWE, Uniper and EnBW are responsible for ordering LNG abroad. The first tanker is expected at the end of January. It is to deliver liquefied natural gas from Abu Dhabi.
What is known about the ship
The FSRU “Höegh Gannet” from Norway, chartered for 10 years, is 294 meters long, 46 meters wide and has a draft of 11.6 meters. She was last in Mugardos, Spain, before arriving in Germany early Friday morning. The ship, built in South Korea, can temporarily store 170,000 cubic meters of LNG. The regasification of the cryogenic gas is to be carried out with hot water that occurs as process water in a nearby industrial park in Brunsbüttel. This required the construction of a new hot water pipe. Groundbreaking for the LNG terminal began in mid-October, after planning had started in May. The commercial operation of the terminal is the responsibility of the newly founded Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH.
Like Wilhelmshaven and Lubmin, Brunsbüttel also has plans for long-term import facilities. The German LNG Terminal, a multifunctional land terminal, is scheduled to start operating in 2026. There are also plans for an ammonia import terminal, which could also become active from 2026.
(mki)
