RWE Reserves German LNG Import Capacity

Europe’s leading energy companies RWE and German LNG Terminal GmbH, the joint venture driving forward Germany’s first LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel in Northern Germany, have reached an agreement for a considerable part of the terminal’s capacity on a long-term basis.

This contract follows a successful “Open Season” in which market interest was tested. The total capacity of the combined LNG import and small-scale terminal will be 5 billion cubic metres. RWE has signed a contract that guarantees RWE access to substantial annual capacity.

Andree Stracke, Chief Commercial Officer Gas Supply & Origination of RWE Supply & Trading GmbH, commented: “LNG will play an important role in the North-West European gas market and therefore we are very pleased to take this step forward towards an LNG terminal in Germany. We believe that together with German LNG Terminal we can fully develop a significant business around the terminal delivering LNG and gas to our customers in Germany and throughout Europe."

Andree added: "LNG remains a key growth area for RWE: this agreement will enable us to continue growing our portfolio and provide us with additional flexibility to take advantage of new opportunities as they present themselves in the global LNG market.”

Ulco Vermeulen (Member of Executive Board, N. V. Nederlandse Gasunie), Daan Vos (Managing Director, Oiltanking GmbH) and Kees van Seventer (President, Vopak LNG Holding B.V.) declared in a joint statement: “We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with RWE. This is an important step in the commercial development of the terminal as a significant part of the terminal’s capacity has now been committed. It clearly demonstrates that the market is committed to Germany’s first LNG terminal and is convinced of its business model as a multi-service terminal, independent ownership and open access. It’s great to have RWE as a valuable business partner on board and work together towards the future success of the LNG terminal.”

Negotiations with other interested parties are ongoing. In addition, the engineering work for the permit approval process is progressing well. If all relevant permits have been obtained and there is sufficient interest in the market, the final investment decision is envisaged for late 2019. Construction work will then start in 2020 with the terminal being fully operational by the end of 2022.