Uniper to re-evaluate plans for Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal after tepid interest

London — Germany's Uniper is to re-evaluate its plans for a floating LNG import terminal at Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany after market players showed lukewarm interest in booking long-term capacity at the plant, it said Nov. 6.

Uniper subsidiary LNG Terminal Wilhelmshaven (LTeW) invited binding bids for capacity at the planned 10 Bcm/year floating, storage and regasification unit project from Sept. 22-Oct. 30.

"LTeW is re-evaluating previous plans for an LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven because of market players' reluctance to make binding bookings for import capacity in the current circumstances," it said in a statement.

"The procedure for gauging interest from market players ended without a sufficient response. Numerous market players took part in the procedure and expressed general interest, but not enough of them have made their booking intentions binding," it said.

The non-binding phase of the open season process started in May 2019 and resulted in "great interest" among market players.

However, that interest failed to translate into enough binding bids.

Wilhelmshaven is one of three planned LNG import terminals in Germany along with the RWE-backed 8 Bcm/year German LNG project at Brunsbuettel and the proposed 12 Bcm/year Stade import facility being developed by Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH).

Economic uncertainties

Wilhelmshaven LNG project manager Oliver Giese said economic uncertainties had "definitely" played a role in the result.

"Many companies don't want to make long-term commitments at the moment. The results of the expression-of-interest procedure show that we need to revise the scope and focus of the planned terminal to ensure that it remains attractive to market players and economically predictable for LTeW and Uniper," Giese said.

The developer is already considering several new options for using the Wilhelmshaven site as an import port for "environmentally friendly gas," for example by adapting individual parameters of the terminal or adding new elements, it said.

"Importing hydrogen directly would also be a possibility in the long term," it added.

Uniper CEO Andreas Schierenbeck said LNG was a growth market and gas was playing a "bigger and bigger" part in ensuring security of supply and in decarbonizing the global energy system.

Schierenbeck said that despite the setback at Wilhelmshaven, Uniper was committed to ensuring a secure supply of LNG both now and in the future.

"But it's also clear that all considerations must meet the same strict economic criteria. We will now discuss all this in depth with those who, like me, consider the development of such an import terminal in Germany to be a fascinating idea and will continue to support it," he said.

Uniper said in September that the final investment decision on the construction of the terminal would be made on the basis of "sufficient demand from market players and economic viability."