Lubminer LNG terminal set up in a hurry

Created: 01/05/2023Updated: 01/05/2023 18:10

The LNG shuttle tanker "Coral Furcata" calls at the industrial port of Lubmin.

© Stefan Sauer/dpa

Clear the way for the import of LNG via Lubmin.

The terminal, which was set up in a very short time, is due to receive the last outstanding permit in the coming week.

Regular operation will follow soon.

Lubmin - As Germany's second terminal for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the terminal in Lubmin is about to be commissioned.

A spokesman for the Schwerin Ministry of the Environment said on Thursday that nothing stands in the way of the last outstanding operating license being issued by the responsible state authority.

As the ministry announced, the documents are to be made available for inspection again for four days from Monday and published on the Internet.

"The approval notice can then be signed and officially handed over," Minister Till Backhaus was quoted as saying.

Stephan Knabe, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the operator Deutsche Regas, said: "Of course we are very happy." The terminal was realized "incredibly quickly".

He not only thanks his team.

"The authorities have also grown beyond themselves."

It was only in the spring of 2022 that authorities began to be approached.

The idea of ​​building an LNG terminal came to him and his business partner Ingo Wagner at the end of 2021 in view of the rising gas prices.

They could have drawn on plans they made a long time ago on the subject of hydrogen with Lubmin in mind.

The company then submitted the applications in the summer.

From the end of September it took less than two and a half months to build in the industrial port of Lubmin and, for example, a connection line to the long-distance gas pipelines was laid in the immediate vicinity.

Originally, December 1st was targeted as the start of operations.

However, the necessary permits were not yet available.

The more than 280 meter long “Neptune” has been in Lubmin since mid-December.

It acts as a floating terminal.

The special ship can take LNG, convert it back into the gaseous state and feed it in as natural gas.

Smaller tankers are to transport the LNG through the shallow Bay of Greifswald.

They in turn fetch it from a larger tanker off Rügen, which serves as an interim storage facility.

Deutsche Regas speaks of a "virtual pipeline".

Up to 5.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas can be fed in annually.

Shortly before Christmas, the responsible state authority gave permission for a limited test run.

A shuttle ship then transported a first LNG cargo to the "Neptune" shortly before New Year's Eve.

Tests are currently ongoing, said Knabe.

Natural gas could also end up in the gas network in the coming days.

He didn't want to talk about feeding.

He wants to save this term for regular operation.

"We will be ready for regular operation relatively quickly." In the coming week it could be so far.

The LNG terminal is thus one of the first operational ones in Germany.

According to Deutsche Regas, it is entirely privately financed.

The approximately 100 million euros came from investors and equity.

In Wilhelmshaven, Lower Saxony, natural gas was fed in for the first time at the end of last year as part of a test run.

A terminal in Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein is to be launched shortly.

Germany relies, among other things, on LNG delivered by ship to replace missing Russian gas supplies.

Backhaus emphasized that it was also particularly important to him to get away from fossil fuels.

He is therefore very pleased that Deutsche Regas has only applied for an operating period until the end of 2031 and not until the end of 2043, as the LNG Acceleration Act would have made possible.

The structures should be used for climate-neutral hydrogen in the future.

In addition, the SPD politician emphasized "that no biocides are used here near the Greifswalder Bodden and that there is no risk of the Bodden warming up".

The energy policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, David Wulff, said it was the first privately operated LNG terminal to be built without subsidies.

"From now on, the Lubmin site will make a significant contribution to energy security in Germany." dpa