Page 8 - EurOil Annual Review 2021

EurOil MARCH EurOil

Fluxys signs up for

German LNG project

Hanseatic says it has found the “world-class

industrial partner” it has been searching for

BELGIUM BELGIUM’S Fluxys has signed up to be an project and are keen to support the terminal’s
“industrial partner” at the planned Stade LNG development with our industrial and commer-
WHAT: import terminal in Northern Germany, tak- cial expertise.”
Fluxys has agreed to ing the ambitious project a step closer towards Fluxys’ signing up to Stade LNG comes less
become an “industrial realisation. than a month after the company took a final
partner” at the Stade Stade LNG is the biggest of several LNG investment decision (FID) on an expansion at
LNG import project in import schemes in Germany, which already the Zeebrugge LNG terminal in Belgium. The
Germany. has access to a diversified mix of gas supplies facility is currently capable of bringing ashore up
but is looking to strengthen its position as a hub to 6.6mn tonnes per year of LNG. But its capacity
WHY: for central Europe. The terminal is expected to will be raised to 11.3mn tpy by early 2024 and
It is one of three receive up to 12bn cubic metres per year of gas 12.6mn tpy by 2026.
proposed terminals in beginning in 2026. It is also the German terminal
Germany, a market that project that is arguably most likely to succeed at Projects flounder
is already well-supplied the moment. Germany does not have any LNG import capac-
with gas. While project developer Hanseatic Energy ity, relying mostly on Russian gas and supplies
is yet to take a final investment decision (FID) from North Sea fields. But advocates argue that
WHAT NEXT: on the scheme, the non-binding phase of an having a terminal would help lower gas prices
The longer Germany’s open season for the terminal’s capacity that was further, providing a boost to German industry,
LNG projects stall, the finished in mid-February confirmed sufficient and enable the country to act as a hub for sup-
less likely it is that market interest, Hanseatic has said. The binding plies across Central Europe.
they will be realised, stage will commence sometime in the next three However, developers have struggled to
given growing antipathy months. advance projects, largely owing to difficulties
towards hydrocarbons in Fluxys did not specify exactly how it would finding customers.
Europe contribute towards Stade LNG. The company’s German energy group Uniper had wanted to
entry into the project comes after private equity establish a 10 bcm per year LNG import facility
firm Partners Group made an investment in in Wilhelmshaven, but said in November last
Hanseatic in December. year it was considering a hydrogen terminal
“We have been on the lookout for a world- instead. The move came after Uniper invited
class industrial partner to join the development binding bids for capacity but got only a tepid
and operate the terminal on a long-term basis, response from the market.
and we found that in Fluxys,” Hanseatic’s man- A joint venture between the Netherlands’
aging director, Manfred Schubert, said in a state- Gasunie, German tank storage provider Oil-
ment. Fluxys’ involvement will be finalised once tanking and Dutch chemical storage firm Vopak
the default merger clearance procedure with is developing a rival 8 bcm per year project in
competent authorities is completed. Brunsbuettel. The group had aimed to strike a
Hanseatic and Fluxys said they wanted to binding deal with German power firm RWE for
develop a terminal that produces nearly zero car- the bulk of its capacity by the end of last year, but
bon, using excess heat from local industry for the no such deal emerged. Other reservations were
regasification process. The terminal will also act as made by Swiss utility Axpo and another uniden-
an LNG distribution hub, supplying LNG via rail, tified company.
road, small-sized ships and barges. The terminal’s Given the rising antipathy towards natural gas
location in a chemical industry cluster will also in Europe, it seems likely that the longer Germa-
help develop low-carbon gases, Fluxys said. ny’s LNG projects stall, the less probable they are
“The Stade LNG terminal is set to be a key to be realised. The International Energy Agency
enabler of Germany’s energy transition by (IEA) has said that European gas demand may
creating an additional energy entry gate for never again reach the level it did before the pan-
LNG and low-carbon gases, with clean oper- demic. Its import need will continue to grow at a
ations integrated in the Stade industrial clus- slow pace until 2030, as indigenous production
ter,” Fluxys CEO Pascal De Buck commented. declines, but that too will diminish in the follow-
“We look forward to joining our partners in the ing decade. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Annual Review •2021