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Robert Habeck and Manuela Schwesig in Lubmin: Landing point for liquid gas
Photo: Stefan Sauer / dpa
The federal government is expecting new contracts for liquid gas deliveries when Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits the Arabian Peninsula.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck said on Monday in Lubmin in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania that he would certainly be able to sign a few contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the United Arab Emirates.
Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit had previously announced that the Chancellor would travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next weekend.
Gas supply is likely to be the focus in Qatar.
Economics Minister Habeck (Greens) agreed on an energy partnership during a visit to the small but very rich Gulf Emirate in March.
Concrete agreements between Qatar and German companies are not yet known.
Qatar had invested in gas since the 1980s and 1990s and is now one of the world's largest LNG exporters.
Habeck wanted to find out about the current situation with regard to liquid gas on Monday together with Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) in Lubmin.
The location in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania is one of several German coastal locations where liquefied gas delivered by ship is to be landed to replace Russian pipeline gas.
The Baltic Sea pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 arrive in Lubmin, but currently no Russian gas is delivered via them.
Habeck said it was important that terminals for landing liquid gas were built on German coasts this winter and next.
The chances of commissioning in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven in winter are good.
Good luck through the winter
If enough gas is also saved and you are lucky with the weather, there is a chance of getting through this winter well.
In the end, however, the memory is empty.
We are currently moving towards a storage level of 90 percent, although we no longer buy gas at any price.
After this winter, however, more terminals would have to go into operation in order to survive the next winter well.
In Lubmin, the company Deutsche Regas wants to start work on the construction of a liquid gas terminal on Tuesday.
The construction activities served to upgrade the industrial port, which was previously only used by smaller ships, and to create a secure berth, the company said.
Supervisory Board Chairman Stephan Knabe spoke of an important milestone for the project.
The construction work on the port site had been reported to and applied for by the responsible authorities, and the last outstanding permit was issued on September 14th.
More extensive approval procedures are required for the work outside the port.
According to the ambitious plans of Deutsche Regas, the first gas should be delivered via the privately financed terminal as early as December.
It is planned to bring the liquid gas from the large tankers anchored off Lubmin to the port with smaller shuttle ships and then to feed it into the existing gas network.
The Baltic Sea pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 arrive in Lubmin, but currently no Russian gas is delivered via them.
Money from the gas surcharge will come later
The German energy company RWE and the Norwegian company Stena-Power also want to build a floating gas terminal in Lubmin.
According to earlier information from the Federal Ministry of Economics, the terminal chartered by the federal government should be ready for use at the end of 2023.
While Habeck's visit to Lubmin gives hope for progress in future energy supply, the minister still has to deal with the consequences of the current energy crisis.
Habeck assured again that the ailing gas importers would continue to be supported.
When asked about a possible nationalization, he reacted evasively.
One would be in conversation with the companies to change the support.
At the same time, the first funds from the gas surcharge, which will take effect from October, should not reach the companies before November.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Economics said in Berlin that the cabinet approved the later advance payments in a written circulation procedure on Friday.
The first payout was previously possible from September 20th.
The surcharge of 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour, which will apply from the beginning of October, is to be paid by every customer – private households and industry.
The revenue is intended to offset the massive additional costs that importers like Uniper are currently having due to stopped deliveries from Russia.
The ministry spokeswoman did not want to say whether importers taken over by the state would also benefit from the gas surcharge.
This could be relevant in the Uniper case, for example.
Discussions are underway here about a significant state stake in the company.
The ministry spokeswoman said that the negotiations were concentrated and that there was not "infinite time".
The Ministry of Economic Affairs also wants to change the scope of the gas levy retrospectively so that no companies benefit that do not actually need help.
Critics accuse the economics minister of not having worked properly and allowing this possibility.
With the planned change, »free riders« should be left out.
"The work is underway," said the ministry spokeswoman.
»Everything else is not up for debate.« Recently, there was speculation that the gas surcharge could even be withdrawn in the course of a possible nationalization of the most important gas importers.
mmq/Reuters/dpa
