By Andreas Killer
BERLIN (Dow Jones) — The Federal Ministry of Economics has contradicted warnings from energy experts that Economics Minister Robert Habeck’s (Greens) plans for the rapid import of liquid gas to replace Russian natural gas are unlikely to be realised. “The federal government is in close contact with gas traders who operate a significant share of world trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG),” said a spokeswoman for the ministry. “Accordingly, the LNG deliveries, including the necessary transports to Germany and to LNG landing terminals in neighboring EU countries, are secured. It does not matter that the tankers are German, because it is an international market.”
The current high utilization of the LNG terminals in the neighboring countries shows that LNG tankers are landing in Europe due to the high demand. Currently, non-contractual LNG is also arriving in Germany. “In concrete terms, this means that LNG is currently entering the German market via purchases on the short-term markets, the so-called spot markets.”
The spokeswoman also emphasized that the federal government had chartered four floating liquid gas terminals, so-called FSRU. This would create LNG import opportunities in the short term. The deployment in Wilhelmshaven is planned for the end of the year, in Brunsbttel from the beginning of 2023.
The Association of German Shipowners had previously doubted the feasibility of the German LNG strategy. “In the German merchant fleet there are no gas tankers that can transport LNG over long distances,” General Manager Martin Krger told the Bild newspaper. “There are almost 500 LNG tankers available worldwide, but demand from other regions of the world is high.”
Energy economist Andreas Fischer from IW Cologne had told the newspaper that the quantities of liquid gas had to be available on the world market, “and appropriate tankers were needed, most of which were already tied to long-term contracts.”
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DJG/tank/apo
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 06, 2022 05:31 ET (09:31 GMT)