Germany’s Deutsche ReGas, the LNG import terminal firm, has canceled a floating storage regasification unit used for a year, saying it was losing money on the investment, the Maritime Executive reported.
The facility in question is a floating regasification unit named Energos Power with a capacity of 174,000 cubic meters daily which was installed at the port of Mukran in February last year. It was combined with another FSRU to bring the total receiving capacity of the port terminal to over 13 billion cubic meters annually.
However, the installation has not been making money but has in fact been losing money, Deutsche ReGas said, blaming for this a state-owned company by the name of Deutsche Energy Terminals, which is its direct competitor in LNG imports—and enjoys government subsidies that allow it to offer its services for a lower price than Deutsche RegGas can afford to compete with.
“DET’s ruinous pricing policy since December 2024 is one of several reasons for terminating the sub-charter contract. Deutsche ReGas regrets having to take this step,” Deutsche ReGas managing partner Ingo Wagner said, as quoted by the Maritime Executive. According to the company, LNG import terminals are being underutilized.
“We continue to be in close contact with the federal government on this matter. In the event of a supply bottleneck, ReGas believes that an immediate solution can be found at any time,” he added.
DET, for its part, has said it complies with all relevant state regulations and is currently looking forward to the start of gas storage refilling season.
Germany is Europe’s biggest energy consumer and after the loss of Russian pipeline supply it has been struggling to find adequate supply replacement both in terms of volumes and price. LNG has proven to be the most easily accessible alternative to pipeline gas but it has come at a price.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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