DOW
Germany's first LNG terminal to be built at Stade site / US chemical group will provide land and take minority stake / Ambitious project to replace Russian gas
 The company’s site in Stade, Germany, where the new LNG terminal will be located (Photo: Dow) |
Weeks after the European Commission sealed a deal with the US government over supplies of liquefied natural gas to the EU, chemicals and plastics producer Dow (Midland, Michigan, USA; www.dow.com) has taken an undisclosed minority stake in a large-scale project to replace output from the now-defunct Nord Stream 2 pipeline connecting Germany with Russia.
As part of the consortium, Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH), comprised of Belgian gas processor Fluxys (Brussels; www.fluxys.com), Partners Group, and Buss Group, Dow will own a stake in what would be Germany’s first LNG terminal, planned to be built on land belonging to the US company’s chemical park at Stade on the North Sea coast.
In addition to infrastructure services, the chemical group said it will provide off-gas heat, site services, and mutual harbor use rights for the project expected to be completed by 2026. In the facility, Dow will repurpose off-gas heat for the carbon emissions-free regasification of the liquefied gas back to its gaseous state, under an agreement signed with HEH last year.
A final decision on building the terminal is due by 2023. The partners calculate that the facility with a projected regasification capacity of 13.3 m³ annually could fill 15% of Germany’s current natural gas requirements for that timeframe as well as meet nearly 25% of the LNG the US has agreed to ship to Europe to replace Russian gas.
Under the European Energy Security pact signed in March 2022, the US has committed to ship 50 bn m³ of LNG to Europe by 2030. The agreement does not specify which reserves the gas is likely to come from.
A glut of LNG from fracking has depressed US pricing in the recent past, but a market recovery began in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, former President Donald Trump had unsuccessfully sought to interest Germany in buying US gas as an alternative to the Russian pipeline.
Related: Ineos chief Jim Ratcliffe urges UK government to have a rethink on fracking
Commenting on the plans for the new terminal, Neil Carr, president of Dow Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, called LNG imports “a major step in enabling a stable, cost-effective, and sustainable supply of energy to Europe.”
Carr added that the project will allow the group to “make a significant contribution to transforming the energy supply in Germany in support of its 2045 climate neutrality targets while increasing the competitiveness of Stade, a site important for serving Dow customers throughout Europe.”
Pascal De Buck, managing director and CEO of Fluxys, said Dow’s commitment “underlines the role of LNG terminals not only as a key infrastructure for security of supply but also as frontrunners of a green energy ecosystem”. By its own account, Fluxys operates 12,000 km of pipeline for gas transmission across Europe and in Brazil.
According to estimates, Germany currently imports about half of its natural gas requirements through pipelines from Russia, including the Nord Stream 1 project agreed in the first decade of the 21st century. At present, the country has no LNG regasification or import facilities.
As part of the consortium, Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH), comprised of Belgian gas processor Fluxys (Brussels; www.fluxys.com), Partners Group, and Buss Group, Dow will own a stake in what would be Germany’s first LNG terminal, planned to be built on land belonging to the US company’s chemical park at Stade on the North Sea coast.
In addition to infrastructure services, the chemical group said it will provide off-gas heat, site services, and mutual harbor use rights for the project expected to be completed by 2026. In the facility, Dow will repurpose off-gas heat for the carbon emissions-free regasification of the liquefied gas back to its gaseous state, under an agreement signed with HEH last year.
A final decision on building the terminal is due by 2023. The partners calculate that the facility with a projected regasification capacity of 13.3 m³ annually could fill 15% of Germany’s current natural gas requirements for that timeframe as well as meet nearly 25% of the LNG the US has agreed to ship to Europe to replace Russian gas.
Under the European Energy Security pact signed in March 2022, the US has committed to ship 50 bn m³ of LNG to Europe by 2030. The agreement does not specify which reserves the gas is likely to come from.
A glut of LNG from fracking has depressed US pricing in the recent past, but a market recovery began in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, former President Donald Trump had unsuccessfully sought to interest Germany in buying US gas as an alternative to the Russian pipeline.
Related: Ineos chief Jim Ratcliffe urges UK government to have a rethink on fracking
Commenting on the plans for the new terminal, Neil Carr, president of Dow Europe, Middle East, Africa and India, called LNG imports “a major step in enabling a stable, cost-effective, and sustainable supply of energy to Europe.”
Carr added that the project will allow the group to “make a significant contribution to transforming the energy supply in Germany in support of its 2045 climate neutrality targets while increasing the competitiveness of Stade, a site important for serving Dow customers throughout Europe.”
Pascal De Buck, managing director and CEO of Fluxys, said Dow’s commitment “underlines the role of LNG terminals not only as a key infrastructure for security of supply but also as frontrunners of a green energy ecosystem”. By its own account, Fluxys operates 12,000 km of pipeline for gas transmission across Europe and in Brazil.
According to estimates, Germany currently imports about half of its natural gas requirements through pipelines from Russia, including the Nord Stream 1 project agreed in the first decade of the 21st century. At present, the country has no LNG regasification or import facilities.
19.04.2022 Plasteurope.com 1098 [250100-0]
Published on 19.04.2022