Germany builds new gas terminals to succeed Russian pipelines
Monday, 3 October 2022
WILHELMSHAVEN (Germany), Oct 2 (AFP): Germany's most strategically important building site is at the end of a windswept pier on the North Sea coast, where workers are assembling the country's first terminal for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Starting this winter, the rig, close to the port of Wilhelmshaven, will be able to supply the equivalent of 20 percent of the gas that was until recently imported from Russia.
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has throttled gas supplies to Germany, while the Nord Stream pipelines which carried huge volumes under the Baltic Sea to Europe were damaged last week in what a Danish-Swedish report called "a deliberate act."
In the search for alternative sources, the German government has splashed billions on five projects like the one in Wilhelmshaven.
Altogether the new fleet should be able to handle around 25 billion cubic metres of gas per year, roughly equivalent to half the capacity of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.