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New terminals built to succeed Russian pipelines

Germany spends billions to ractify gas shortage

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BERLIN: Germany’s most strategica­lly important building site is at the end of a windswept pier on the North Sea coast, where workers are assembling the country’s first terminal for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Starting this winter, the rig, close to the port of Wilhelmsha­ven, will be able to supply the equivalent of 20% of the gas that was until recently imported from Russia.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has throttled gas supplies to Germany, while the Nord Stream pipelines which carried huge volumes under the Baltic Sea to Europe were damaged last week in what a Danish-swedish report called “a deliberate act.”

In the search for alternativ­e sources, the German government has splashed billions on five projects like the one in Wilhelmsha­ven.

Altogether the new fleet should be able to handle around 25 billion cubic metres of gas per year, roughly equivalent to half the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

New platform

At the site in Wilhelmsha­ven, the half-finished concrete platform emerging from the sea sprays workers in fluorescen­t yellow vests with a fine mist.

Back on solid land, a constant stream of lorries delivers sections of grey pipe, which should relay the terminal to the gas network.

LNG terminals allow for the import by sea of natural gas which has been chilled and turned into a liquid to make it easier to transport.

A specialist vessel, known as an FSRU, which can stock the fuel and turn LNG back into a ready-to-use gas, is also hooked up to the platform to complete the installati­on.

Unlike other countries in Europe, Germany until now did not have an LNG terminal, instead relying on relatively cheap pipeline supplies from Russia.

But since the invasion of Ukraine, Germany has set about weaning itself off Moscow’s gas exports, which previously represente­d 55% of its supplies.

To diversify its sources, secure enough supplies of the fuel and keep its factories working, Berlin has bet massively on LNG to fill the gap left by Russian imports.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates for the supply of LNG, while touring Gulf states in search of new sources.

Renting five FSRU ships to plug into the new terminals has also set Berlin back €3bil (Us$2.9bil or Rm13.45bil).

Environmen­t

Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Germany passed a law to drasticall­y speed up the approval process for LNG terminals.

In Wilhelmsha­ven, the work is coming along rapidly. The terminal should be finished “this winter”, says Holger Kreetz, who heads the project for German energy company Uniper.

The strategic importance of the terminal has seen building work advance surprising­ly quickly. “Normally, a project like this takes us five to six years,” Kreetz tells AFP.

The arrival of the new terminal has been welcomed by many residents in Wilhelmsha­ven, where deindustri­alisation

has pushed the unemployme­nt rate up to 10%, almost twice the national average.

“It’s good that it’s in Wilhelmsha­ven ... it’ll bring jobs,” Ingrid Schon told AFP.

Opposition comes from groups who fear the accelerate­d timescales for approval and constructi­on could come at a cost to the environmen­t.

Young activists from the group Ende Gelaende managed to block the site in Wilhelmsha­ven for a day in August.

The German environmen­tal organisati­on DUH said the works would “irreversib­ly destroy sensitive ecosystems as well as endanger the living space of threatened porpoises”.

The source of the fuel has also been a sore point, with concerns raised that natural gas produced from fracking in the United States could be imported via the new terminal.

Criticism of the project has been dismissed by Economy Minister Robert Habeck, a Green party politician, who has emphasised the importance of “energy security”.

By 2030, the site is set to be converted for the importatio­n of green hydrogen, produced with renewables, which Berlin has backed as

part of its energy transition.

 ?? — AFP ?? Kreetz: the strategic importance of the terminal has seen building work advance surprising­ly quickly.
— AFP Kreetz: the strategic importance of the terminal has seen building work advance surprising­ly quickly.

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