- Market participants are invited to express their binding interest in capacities in the planned LNG terminal
- Deepwater location Wilhelmshaven offers ideal maritime and logistic conditions
- In addition, the permitting processes have started with the formal coordination of the scope of examination with the responsible authorities
LNG Terminal Wilhelmshaven GmbH (LTeW), a currently 100% owned subsidiary of Uniper SE, invites market participants to express their binding interest in throughput capacities in the LNG terminal project. This call follows the non-binding phase of the open season process, which started in May 2019 and already found great interest among market players. After further development steps, the project has now reached a level of maturity that, according to current planning, allows entering into the next phase on Monday, September 14, 2020, aiming for binding booking requests. Further information on the concrete procedure will be published in due time before the start.
Within the next five years, LTeW plans to further develop, construct and commission a terminal to land, store and regasify LNG at Germany’s sole deepwater port location. The design is based on a "Floating Storage and Regasification Unit" (FSRU), a technology that can be realized more economically and faster than onshore LNG terminals and is also more environment-friendly on the location. The nominal send-out capacity of the terminal will be 9.78 bcm per year. The project thus makes an important contribution to the further diversification of German gas supplies and also to the security of supply and long-term competitiveness of gas supplies in Germany and Europe.
The Wilhelmshaven location offers ideal conditions from both a marine and a logistics perspective. LNG tankers of all sizes will be able to access the facility independently of tides and in accordance with highest international security standards. Alongside regasification, it is planned that the FSRU will also offer the possibility for loading LNG onto LNG ships and LNG bunker barges. Connecting it to the existing natural gas transmission system requires a pipeline of only roughly 30 km.
In addition to the open season process, a further important step in the realization of the terminal project was the start of the so-called scoping process for coordinating and determining the scope of the examination in accordance with § 15 UVPG (German law on environmental impact assessment) with the responsible authorities within the necessary permitting processes. The revised design of the terminal envisages bypassing the biotope "Species-rich gravel, coarse sand and shellgrounds" protected under § 30 BNatSchG (Federal Nature Conservation Act) via a sub-sea gas pipeline.
The final investment decision on the construction of the terminal will be taken based on sufficient demand from market participants and economic viability - provided that all necessary public approval and permitting processes are concluded successfully.