German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s policy in the energy sector can be described as hesitant: it changes very quickly and makes too many sudden moves that lead not to solving the problems, but to making the situation worse. Germany relies heavily on LNG to fill the energy supply gap caused by the withdrawal of Russian gas from the market in the EU’s biggest economy. The closure of all remaining German nuclear power plants has raised even more acutely the question of the country’s immediate future this winter. Bloomberg writes about this in an article by industry analyst Steven Stapzinski.
In addition, the German gas lobby has warned in advance of a potential shortage of production and power generation if winter temperatures are moderate or low. In this case, the gas storages will be completely emptied, before the end of the extraction season. This is what the INES group said explicitly two days ago.
In such a situation, Scholz’s office was pushed against the wall and he had no choice but to speed up and, despite the protests of environmentalists, try to commission several additional floating terminals to receive and regasify LNG (although there are no more feedstocks planned, no matter how much you develop the infrastructure).
To this end, the German government has bought back part of the inactive Nord Stream gas pipeline for the construction of another new LNG import project. The Baltic LNG terminal will be launched in early 2024.
No matter what, the destroyed Russian gas pipeline will still help Germany with gas
- the expert wrote sarcastically on his social network.
According to Bloomberg, citing their key informants who were in the room during the talks, officials discussed a plan to speed up the construction of the terminals. The meeting was held behind closed doors. It was then that the purchase of Nord Stream was agreed, approved by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habek.
Nearly 70 kilometers of the pipeline will be connected to existing LNG infrastructure in Lubmin from spring 2024, Habek said, referring to the connection point on the mainland where idle Nord Stream pipelines also end. The interconnections created will allow LNG carriers not to approach the shore, but to offload from a distance, which will reduce the risk of grounding and reduce emissions in the water area of the port. Thus, the German authorities hope to appease the protesting environmentalists who oppose the construction of another energy installation.
Photos used: pxhere.com
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