Norway’s Höegh LNG has inked binding implementation agreements with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action to charter out two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) from its fleet for operations in Germany for 10 years.
The detailed FSRU contracts are scheduled to be completed by September or October, and FSRU operations are expected to commence at the end of this year.
Germany is making significant headway in weaning itself from Russian fossil fuel imports, and by the end of the year, it might be essentially independent of the country’s coal and oil. Natural gas supply poses the most difficult issue, and it will likely take until mid-2024 for Germany to be able to forgo deliveries from Russia.
In March, German minister Robert Habeck revealed that energy companies RWE and Uniper were finalising contracts to charter three FSRUs that could be used to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) directly into Germany as early as next winter.
“With the leasing of the three floating terminals, around 27bn cu m of LNG could be landed in the final stage step by step by summer 2024. As early as in the winter of 2022/2023, an additional 7.5bn cu m of LNG would be available on the market,” the ministry said.
Why don’t they reverse their ill informed, poorly thought out nuclear ban? They have just turned off three reactors, reactivating them will provide around 6 or 7% of its power needs thus drastically reducing its reliance on Putin and depriving him of money.