New market for LNG as Germany moves to add import terminals

[thackney]

New market for LNG as Germany moves to add import terminalshttps://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/New-market-for-LNG-as-Germany-moves-to-add-import-14378430.php
Aug. 26, 2019

Germany is expected add four terminals to import liquefied natural gas over the next four years, significantly increasing Europe’s capacity to receive LNG and potentially opening a large market for American natural gas and Gulf Coast exporters.

The projects, expected be completed by 2023, come as Germany has come under intense pressure from the U.S. government for its partnership with the Russian company Gazprom to develop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would transport Russian natural gas under the Baltic Sea to eastern Germany. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, buys more than a third of its imported gas from Russia. With Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline is completed, Russian imports could easily double.

The Trump administration, which has criticized Germany as “captive” to Russia, is promoting U.S. LNG as an alternative to Russian gas and a way to reduce the geopolitical leverage that Russia holds by controlling so much of Europe’s energy supply. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell warned German companies of potential sanctions for working on Nord Stream 2 while the House and Senate are considering legislation to impose sanctions on companies and individuals involved in building the pipeline.

The four LNG import terminals could receive 635 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year by 2023, which would boost Europe’s LNG import capacity by nearly a third, according to GlobalData, a London analytics firm. Along Germany's North Sea Coast, German energy company RWE plans to build an LNG import terminal in Brunsbuettel while German energy company Uniper is seeking to build another in Wilhelmshaven and a third is planned at site owned by chemical firm Dow in Stade close to the city of Hamburg....

[thackney]

GERMANY, Natural gas
https://www.eia.gov/beta/international/analysis.php?iso=DEU

Germany was the largest consumer of natural gas in Europe in 2015, consuming 7.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas.

Imports account for about 90% of total natural gas supply, and most imports come from three countries: Russia (40% of total imports in 2015), Norway (21%) and the Netherlands (29%), according to the German energy research group, AG Energiebilanzen.

Natural gas imports from the Netherlands were down 15% in 2014 versus 2013, as the Netherlands restricted production from its giant Groningen field resulting from concerns about earthquakes in producing areas. Germany plans to completely cease imports from Groningen by 2030.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

I wonder why Germany is ceasing the usage of Groningen gas?

It has been taking it for decades and is close by.

[thackney]

I wonder why Germany is ceasing the usage of Groningen gas?

It has been taking it for decades and is close by.

Groningen gas production to drop 75 percent by 2023
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-gas/groningen-gas-production-to-drop-75-percent-by-2023-idUSKBN1O21YA

 Gas production at the earthquake-prone Groningen field will drop by at least 75 percent in the next five years, ahead of schedule towards the projected end of extraction.

The Dutch government decided this year to shut down in 2030 what was once Europe’s largest natural gas field because decades of extraction had caused dozens of earthquakes each year, damaging thousands of homes and buildings.....

UPDATE 1-Groningen gas production to drop 20% faster than planned - gov't
https://www.reuters.com/article/groningen-gas/update-1-groningen-gas-production-to-drop-20-faster-than-planned-govt-idUSL8N23O44B
 June 17, 2019

Next year’s output at the Groningen natural gas field in the north of the Netherlands looks set to drop 20% more than previously announced, the Dutch government said on Monday.

Production at the field, operated by Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, could be limited at 12.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the year starting October 2019, the government said, to limit seismic risks in the region.

The government said in February that production would drop to 15.9 billion cubic metres (bcm), but was forced to cap production faster than planned after a 3.4 magnitude earthquake hit the Groningen region last month....

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Groningen gas production to drop 75 percent by 2023
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-gas/groningen-gas-production-to-drop-75-percent-by-2023-idUSKBN1O21YA

 Gas production at the earthquake-prone Groningen field will drop by at least 75 percent in the next five years, ahead of schedule towards the projected end of extraction.

The Dutch government decided this year to shut down in 2030 what was once Europe’s largest natural gas field because decades of extraction had caused dozens of earthquakes each year, damaging thousands of homes and buildings.....

UPDATE 1-Groningen gas production to drop 20% faster than planned - gov't
https://www.reuters.com/article/groningen-gas/update-1-groningen-gas-production-to-drop-20-faster-than-planned-govt-idUSL8N23O44B
 June 17, 2019

Next year’s output at the Groningen natural gas field in the north of the Netherlands looks set to drop 20% more than previously announced, the Dutch government said on Monday.

Production at the field, operated by Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Mobil, could be limited at 12.8 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the year starting October 2019, the government said, to limit seismic risks in the region.

The government said in February that production would drop to 15.9 billion cubic metres (bcm), but was forced to cap production faster than planned after a 3.4 magnitude earthquake hit the Groningen region last month....

I was not aware of the earthquake issues becoming so sensitive at Groningen.  While a 3.4 magnitude earthquake is not much at all, likely it will get worse at future times and become more disruptive.  No wonder the Dutch are limiting withdrawals, to the detriment of the Germans.

Groningen is a super-sized gas field, the 10th largest in the world and spread over a considerable part of the Netherlands.  I looked it up and is about 10,000' deep and 300' thick.  Lots of fields like that around that produce with no earthquakes, so I assume the cause could be the large areal extent.

The main issue is its producing mechanism.  Being depletion drive, it should achieve +90% recovery of the almost 100TCF of Gas in Place.  The fact it depletes in pressure rather than a water drive replacing the produced gas gives it a lot more recovery but also could cause compression within the reservoir and effect the overlying rock, all the way to the surface.

The obvious answer to the Dutch Government is to begin a water injection program to prop up and even increase the pressure of the reservoir.  It has the added advantage of adding to recovery of gas.  It is easy to have the water injection as it could be a simple dumpflood with existing water zones in the field.

The injection of water in a large reservoir to mitigate surface movements was classically done at the Wilmington Oil Field underlying Long Beach.  Wilmington is one of the ten largest fields in the US and during early field production suffered subsidence of the surface.  This caused a program to be placed in the field which replaced the reservoir fluid withdrawals with water to stop subsidence of the city of Long Beach.  It greatly increased recovery of oil from the field, a big bonus to inject.

Ekofisk and Lake Maracaibo are other cases of surface subsidence caused by production of a massive field.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464189501000151

[thackney]

I was not aware of the earthquake issues becoming so sensitive at Groningen.  While a 3.4 magnitude earthquake is not much at all, likely it will get worse at future times and become more disruptive.  No wonder the Dutch are limiting withdrawals, to the detriment of the Germans....

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/10/shell-exxon-gas-drilling-sets-off-earthquakes-wrecks-homes

...Groningen does not sit on any fault lines, and before Shell and Exxon Mobil arrived, it had no history of seismic activity. But the earthquakes that ruined Heite’s house and many others are, everyone now accepts, manmade. Manuel Sintubin, professor of geodynamics at Leuven University in Belgium explains: “When you extract gas, it changes the pressure in the gas reservoir and causes compaction in the reservoir sandstone, which causes earthquakes.”

As more gas was extracted – the field is about two-thirds empty now – pressure changes deep underground become more severe and unpredictable. Nearly 1,000 manmade earthquakes, ranging from 0.1 to 3.6 on the Richter scale, have occurred in Groningen since the early 1990s. A 3.6 magnitude earthquake is not a terrifying experience, although in 2012 it was strong enough to shake groceries off the shelves in a Groningen shop. But because the earthquakes take place at the shallow depth of 3km, and many Groningen buildings are built on soft clay, the damage caused is greater than their small Richter-scale magnitudes suggest....

...they accepted the link but claimed that any damages would only be minor, and maintained this argument for nearly 20 years, despite growing evidence of major damage to buildings. NAM has received more than 50,000 damage complaints from people seeking compensation....

...thinks the market is damaged enough to cost NAM more than €5bn, in hundreds of thousands of payouts....