Energy – Lubmin – Lubmin Terminal: contracts without LNG from Russia and the United States – Economy

Lubmin (dpa) – According to the operator, no LNG from Russia or the United States should be unloaded at the Lubmin terminal in Mecklenburg-West as part of the long-term supply contracts. Deutsche Rigase announced on Friday that the two suppliers that were awarded a long-term contract in the tender process had promised to do so. These are Total Energies and the Met Group.

Eighty percent of the capacity put into the bidding process was awarded in this way – 3.6 of the 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas that will be fed into the gas grid each year. In addition, until the planned maximum capacity of 5.2 billion cubic meters per annum, variable capacities will be awarded to bidders at short notice. This has not happened yet. According to Knabi, the ongoing process will start first with long-term customers.

In December, a tanker delivered the first cargo to West Pomerania. According to Deutsche Regas, this is liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Egypt.

LNG from the United States has been criticized for extracting it using fracking. The gas or oil is extracted from the rock layers with the help of pressure and fluids, which can be dangerous to the environment. This method is prohibited in Germany. Energy supplies from Russia were partly interrupted in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Like other terminals in Germany, the Lubminer LNG terminal was built in a very short time in order to create alternatives to the shortage of gas shipments from Russia. Instead of using pipelines, ships bring in previously liquefied gas, which is converted back to a gaseous state at terminals and fed into the gas grid. This has been the case at Lubmin as part of the test run since the start of the week. On Saturday, the operators are scheduled to receive the actual operating license in the presence, among others, of Chancellor Olaf Schultz (SPD).

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 230113-99-204838/2