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....