Germany imported record levels of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the first quarter of 2026 despite the war in Iran, official data showed on Tuesday.
Natural gas with a record energy capacity of more than 25 terawatt-hours (TWh) arrived at the three German terminals in Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven, the state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) company said.
The German gov rnment accelerated the development of LNG infrastructure following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in order to become independent of Russian gas supplies.
LNG recently accounted for around 10% of Germany’s gas imports, with a far larger volume reaching the country via pipelines.
At the terminals, the LNG, delivered by tankers at -162 degrees Celsius, is converted back into gas and then pumped ashore in its gaseous state.
The war in the Middle East has so far not had a major impact on LNG handling at the German terminals, with the majority of supplies coming from the United States.
The 25 TWh would be sufficient to fill around 10% of the total capacity of Germany’s natural gas storage facilities, according to DET.
In comparison, only 10 TWh was fed into the system in the first quarter of 2025.
In addition to the three state-run terminals operated by DET in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel, there is also the Rügen LNG terminal in Mukran, operated by Deutsche Regas.
The launch of a further LNG terminal operated by DET in Stade has been delayed, but the facility is scheduled to come on-stream in 2026.