When Germany wants to be free of Russian gas and why LNG terminals are a bottleneck
Created: 04/08/2022Updated: 04/08/2022 10:24 am
By: Luisa Billmayer
With a share of 55 percent, Germany has so far been extremely dependent on Russian gas imports.
© dpa/IMAGO (Montage: Litzka)
Germany does not buy as much natural gas from Russia as it does from Russia, and there is a lack of infrastructure for liquid natural gas from other countries.
We analyze how the exit should still succeed.
A full 55 percent of the natural gas consumed in Germany has so far come from Russia.
However, the ongoing Ukraine conflict* shows the disadvantages of this enormous dependency: Germany is indirectly supporting the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin*.
Germany therefore wants to get out of Russian gas as soon as possible.
Most recently, 46 billion cubic meters of Germany's annual consumption came from Russia - a volume roughly the size of all the water in Lake Constance.
How can Germany replace this amount?
This article on
natural gas
is the second part of our data journalism series on Russian energy imports.
In view of the Ukraine war, the federal government is desperately looking for alternative sources of energy for oil, gas and coal.
There are two alternatives to Russian imports: On the one hand, Germany can buy pipeline gas from other European countries, such as Norway.
As early as 2020, German energy companies were getting around 30 percent of the gas they needed from Norway, according to BP’s annual report on natural gas.
This rate could possibly be increased.
Energy crisis: LNG is considered an important alternative to Russian pipeline gas
Another alternative to Russian imports is liquefied natural gas from other countries, i.e. LNG.
Using Liquified
Natural gas Germany can also import the resource from more distant countries such as North America or Qatar.
For this it is liquefied in the country of origin.
Ships transport the liquefied natural gas to so-called regasification terminals.
These plants are usually located directly in a port and convert the LNG back into gas.
Pipelines then transport the fuel further.
Special tankers transport liquefied natural gas around the world.
© Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa
The problem with liquefied natural gas, however, is that the terminals in the ports cannot take in LNG at will.
There are also only 21 of them in the EU.
Overall, the EU plants can convert around 158 billion cubic meters per year back into gas - not even half of the EU consumption of around 400 billion cubic meters.
To give an example: According to Eon, in an 80 square meter apartment, a household uses on average around 1,300 cubic meters of gas per year for heating and hot water.
So far, Germany has not had a single LNG terminal of its own and can therefore only buy liquefied natural gas in neighboring countries.
Four terminals in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Poland are currently available for imports to Germany.
Pipelines for onward transport to Germany only lead from these plants.
They have a total capacity of around 41 billion cubic meters per year.
Even if this volume were to be purchased in full, that would still be far from sufficient.
for German needs
Gas from Russia: There is no infrastructure for LNG from other countries
In Germany, three terminals are currently being planned on the North Sea coast: The facility in Brunsbüttel is scheduled to go into operation in 2026.
Two more terminals in Stade and Wilhelmshaven will follow.
However, when these two will be operational is still open.
In the end, they should all have an annual capacity of 30 billion cubic meters.
Fossil natural gas can only be an interim solution, if only because of the climate crisis.
According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the liquefied natural gas terminals will therefore be built in such a way that they can also import non-fossil gases such as hydrogen in the future.
Looking at the figures for annual global gas trade and consumption, the importance of Russian imports to Germany becomes clear.
With 233 billion cubic meters and a 17 percent share of the world market, Russia is the largest gas exporter of all.
At the same time, Germany is the largest natural gas importer with a world market share of 12 percent.
As an important intermediary, German energy companies resell around half of them.
Nevertheless, Germany recently ranked eighth among natural gas consumers worldwide.
By 2024, the share of Russian imports should fall to 10 percent
In order to become independent of Russian gas, however, consumption must also decrease at the same time.
According to the Ministry of Economics, by 2024 all newly installed heating systems should be operated with 65 percent renewable energy.
In addition, the federal government wants to promote the replacement of gas heating systems with heat pumps.
The phase-out of Russian gas is said to take significantly longer than the phase-out of Russian oil.
Nevertheless, Robert Habeck's* ministry is already aiming for a reduction this year and is planning further steps by summer 2024. More liquefied natural gas and imports from Norway and the Netherlands should mean that the proportion of Russian gas imports will fall to 40 percent.
The next jump to 30 percent should be made possible by switching from gas to electricity and by saving energy.
With hydrogen technology and renewable energies, the ministry plans to further reduce the share to 10 percent.
However, when Germany will be completely independent of Russian gas, the Ministry of Economics is currently unable to name even when asked.
By Luisa Billmayer.
*FR.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
Our data, sources and methods
The Federal Ministry of Economics recently gave figures on current Russian gas imports.
The Lake Constance water supply indicates how much water the lake holds.
The statistical report of the world energy group BP documents data on international gas trade flows for the year 2020.
According to
BR
The Federal Ministry of Economics also refers to this report.
The European organization Gas Infrastructure Europe provides data on LNG terminals and their annual capacities.
The European Commission records the annual consumption of the EU in quarterly reports on the European gas market.
Eon gives average values for gas consumption in households.
The Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) documents international imports, exports and consumption figures in the 2021 Energy Study.
We also used the progress report on energy security, the FAQ list – gas emergency plan and the FAQ list LNG terminal in Germany from the Federal Ministry of Economics.
Note:
No German authority officially documents the annual gas demand.
The Federal Ministry of Economics recently assumed a sum of 95 billion cubic meters.
The BGR calls 91 billion for 2020, the energy company BP 87 billion.
In order to compare the figures internationally, we use the data from the BGR.
