Scholz: Germany speed at LNG terminal should be a role model

Created: 12/17/2022, 12:55 p.m

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD, front) and Federal Minister of Finance Christian Lindner (FDP) visit the special ship "Höegh Esperanza".

© Michael Sohn/AP POOL/AP

At the opening of the first German import terminal for liquefied natural gas (LNG), Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) praised the speed of construction.

"This is now the new pace in Germany, with which we are advancing infrastructure and it should be a role model, not only for this plant, but for many, many others," said Scholz on Saturday on a ship in front of the terminal in Wilhelmshaven.

Wilhelmshaven - "In this respect it is a good day for our country, a good sign for the whole world that the German economy will be able to continue to be economically strong, to produce and to deal with this challenge."

The floating terminal off the North Sea coast of Lower Saxony is intended to help close the gap in Germany's gas supply caused by the lack of deliveries from Russia.

Four more terminals are to be built by the end of next year: one each in Brunsbüttel (Schleswig-Holstein), Stade (Lower Saxony) and Lubmin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania) - and another one in Wilhelmshaven.

Scholz said the terminal in Wilhelmshaven was a "very, very important contribution to our security".

After the war of aggression against Ukraine, the German government quickly decided to build an LNG terminal infrastructure in order to make the energy supply independent of pipeline gas from Russia.

"When we said that such a terminal should be built here in Wilhelmshaven this year, for example, many said: "That's never possible, that will never succeed." And: The opposite is true," said Scholz.

He thanked workers, engineers, companies and authorities.

dpa