Belgium's Fluxys to join HEH's Stade LNG import terminal project in Germany

London — Hanseatic Energy Hub, or HEH, the developer of the planned LNG import terminal at Stade in northern Germany, and Fluxys said March 3 they had agreed for the Belgian gas infrastructure company to join the project as "industrial partner."

The 12 Bcm/year onshore Stade LNG terminal is the largest of three LNG plants under consideration in northern Germany.

"We have been on the lookout for a world-class industrial partner to join the development and operate the terminal on a long-term basis, and we found that in Fluxys," HEH Managing Director Manfred Schubert said in a statement.

Last month, HEH completed the first non-binding phase of a capacity open season, which it said confirmed market interest from global players that supported the "full planned capacity" of the facility.

Closing of the agreement with Fluxys is expected upon completion of the default merger clearance procedure with the competent authorities, HEH said.

The entry of Fluxys into the project follows a recent investment into HEH by private markets firm Partners Group, it said.

HEH said last month it would launch the binding phase of the open season in Q2 2021, with commercial operations at the project set to start in 2026.

Low carbon

HEH said it planned with Fluxys to jointly build a "near-zero carbon footprint" LNG terminal that uses excess heat from local industry for the regasification process.

The terminal is also set to become an LNG distribution hub by providing logistics via rail, road, small LNG ships and barges, and also by offering bio-LNG to the shipping and heavy-duty transport markets, HEH said.

Fluxys CEO Pascal De Buck said: "The Stade LNG terminal is set to be a key enabler of Germany's energy transition by creating an additional energy entry gate for LNG and low carbon gases with clean operations integrated in the Stade industrial cluster."

HEH has said the terminal in Stade could support Germany in its phase-out of nuclear, coal and lignite-fired electricity generation by diversifying the country's gas supply routes.

The other two planned German LNG projects have faced some obstacles in recent months.

Uniper said in November it was re-evaluating its planned 10 Bcm/year floating LNG import terminal at Wilhelmshaven after market players showed lukewarm interest in booking long-term capacity at the plant.

And a final decision on the planned 8 Bcm/year German LNG Terminal, or GLT, at Brunsbuettel in northern Germany was pushed back from end-2020 to the first half of 2021.

Germany has no LNG import terminals at present, and there have been question marks about the need for a plant given how well the country is connected in Europe to numerous gas supply sources.