Page 10 - EurOil Week 01 2023

EurOil POLICY EurOil

Germany receives its first shipment of

US LNG at newly opened terminal

GERMANY THE first shipment of US liquefied natural gas October 2022, a figure set to rise to 50 bcm in
(LNG) has arrived in Germany at the Wilhelms- 2023.
Germany is importing haven terminal, according to German energy Uniper started a legal action against Russian
LNG for the first time. firm Uniper, Vedomosti reported on January 3. natural gas giant Gazprom in the Stockholm
The supplier was US company Venture Arbitration Court in December for violation of
Global Calcasieu Pass, which sent 97.1mn cubic a gas supplies contract, claiming that failed gas
metres of natural gas, enough to power around deliveries had caused the company €11.6bn of
50,000 German households for a year. damages through it having to replace missing
Until the war in Ukraine started German had gas on the spot market.
no LNG terminals and was entirely reliant on Seaborne LNG deliveries to European des-
Russian piped gas imports. Following the start tinations, including Turkey, eased 1% week on
of the war, Berlin rushed through plans to build week to 3.8 bcm in the last week of December
five large terminals to diversify supplies of gas but are on track to hit a record monthly high,
at Wilhelmshaven (two terminals), Brunsbüttel, Kpler ship tracking data showed on Decem-
Stade and Lubmin. ber 27.
In the meantime Germany has leased three Around 50 vessels, carrying almost 4.7 bcm,
floating terminals, the first of which came online were in transit or waiting to discharge at Euro-
on December 17, Euractiv reported. The three pean ports as the year came to an end, although
terminals have a capacity of 13bn cubic metres the final destinations and volumes could change,
a year, less than the 50 bcm German imported Kpler said.
from Russia pre-war. More than 16.3 bcm of LNG were imported
In the coming winter, Germany will be capa- in December, or 4.2 bcm per week, almost 11%
ble of importing some 32 bcm, according to the higher than the same period in November.
terminal’s declared regasification capacity. Inter- Europe’s LNG supply in December is set to
nal government documents assess a peak capac- exceed 19 bcm, smashing the previous record of
ity of 44.5 bcm. Some critics worry that with four 16.1 bcm seen in November, as the region ramps
onshore LNG terminals under construction up its replacement of Russian pipeline supply
Germany faces the danger of LNG overcapacity and looks to keep the storage tanks as full as pos-
once the onshore LNG terminals are completed. sible in anticipation of a repeat energy crisis in
Uniper recently asked the German State this year’s heating season.
Development Bank to extend its credit line by The volume of LNG floating off European
an additional €4bn ($4.8bn) after using up the shores tumbled to its lowest since August in
previous €9bn loan to finance the LNG import December, with 0.35 bcm floating in four vessels
trade. that have waited for at least five days, according
The company has been losing more than to Kpler data. Meanwhile, Freeport, the sec-
€100mn daily due to reduced Gazprom sup- ond biggest LNG export terminal in the US,
plies and rising gas prices in Europe, resulting delayed its restart following last year’s accident
in a record first-half loss of €12.4bn in 2022 by another month to mid-January at the earli-
that led to a massive government bailout for the est, operator Freeport LNG said at the end of
company. December. Freeport exports some 20 bcm per
The top 40 fuel and energy corporations in year, much of which goes to Europe.
the US, Canada and Europe are set to earn more European LNG storage levels jumped in the
than $3.6 trillion in 2022, a 48% increase on last week of the year and were at 72% of capacity
2021’s $2.4 trillion. In November, the US sup- by New Year’s Eve, Gas Infrastructure Europe
plied 48 bcm of LNG to the EU from January to data showed. ™

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