EnBW to purchase gas from Germany's Stade LNG
German electric utility EnBW has entered into a preliminary purchase agreement with Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH) to buy 3bn m3/year of regasified LNG from the planned Stade LNG terminal, EnBW said on March 31.
EnBW signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for 3bn m3/yr initially, but plans to hold talks on "other areas of cooperation." Companies can submit expressions of interest in long-term LNG capacity at Stade until April 8.
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The terminal would offer 12bn m3/yr in regasification capacity at its location on the Elbe River, one of central Europe's key waterways. It would be enough to satisfy 10% of Germany's gas requirements.
Stade is one of three German LNG projects to have seen renewed interest in light of Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Gasunie, operators of the rival 8bn m3 Brunsbuttel LNG terminal project, signed an MoU with Shell for long-term LNG capacity on March 23.
Company officials believe Stade LNG could start receiving gas imports from 2026. The construction blueprint involves using a brownfield industrial site with optimal river conditions. HEH has said it could be modified to import hydrogen at a later stage.
EnBW said HEH would submit regulatory documents for the project before Easter. The Germany utility has more than 5.5mn customers and aims to significantly increase LNG's role in its energy mix.
"We have expanded our LNG activities step by step in recent years," said EnBW's board member for sustainable generation infrastructure Georg Stamatelopoulos. "That's because liquefied natural gas plays a key role in the diversification of our fuels for energy generation: it opens up the possibility of new sources to secure Germany's gas supply in the transitional period of the new energy concept and builds a bridge to a green energy supply.”