Germany will inaugurate its Deutsche Ostsee LNG import terminal over the weekend, and German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be one of many officials in attendance.

The terminal, located in Lubmin on the German Baltic Sea coast, will be operated by Deutsche ReGas and allow Germany and Europe to further secure gas supply, Paris-based TotalEnergies said Jan. 13 in a press release.

TotalEnergies will contribute a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and supply LNG to the terminal, converting the company into one of Germany’s main LNG suppliers. Germany’s new Wilhelmshaven LNG import terminal received its first LNG cargo on Jan. 3.

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Europe continues to suffer from a lack of gas supply due to the drastic decline in supply flowing from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, TotalEnergies has mobilized its LNG portfolio to deliver available LNG to Europe and use its 18 metric tons per year (mt/year) regasification capacity, the company said.

“Thanks to the start-up of the Lubmin terminal, TotalEnergies will be able to add to this effort and increase its imports to Europe to over 20 mt/year, or about 15% of the continent’s regasification capacity,” said TotalEnergies president of gas, renewables and power Stéphane Michel. “We are pleased to support this project, which will allow Germany and Europe to further secure gas supply.”

The pre-startup process

TotalEnergies delivered Neptune – one of the company’s two FSRUs – to Deutsche ReGas in December 2022. The vessel has a regasification capacity of 5 Bcm/year, enough to cover about 5% of German demand, the French major said.

In October 2022, following Deutsche ReGas’s open season procedure, TotalEnergies also contracted regasification capacity of 2.6 Bcm/year of gas and began to deliver LNG from its global integrated portfolio to the Lubmin terminal.

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