A unit of German energy firm RWE has made a move to secure US LNG volumes from Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Sempra, as Germany looks to phase out Russian gas supplies.
RWE Supply & Trading signed a heads of agreement with Sempra Infrastructure to buy 2.25 million tonnes per year of LNG for a period of 15 years from the planned Port Arthur liquefaction project in Texas with a 13.5 mtpa capacity.
“The volumes will be delivered at the US coast and can be shipped by RWE to any location in the world – as an example to the planned LNG import facilities in Germany,” RWE said in a statement.
Additionally, Sempra Infrastructure said in a separate statement that the two firms have agreed to work toward a broad framework for the reduction, mitigation, and reporting of GHG emissions associated with deliveries of LNG from the Port Arthur project.
This includes addressing the use of responsibly sourced natural gas as part of the project’s feed gas supply and renewable energy as part of the project power mix, it said.
Through this partnership, Sempra Infrastructure and RWE intend to discuss extending cooperation across the energy transition, including hydrogen and renewables.
Also, the agreements are preliminary, non-binding arrangements, and the development of the Port Arthur LNG project remains subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including reaching a final investment decision, Sempra Infrastructure said.
Germany to become “important” LNG market
Germany currently has no LNG import facilities but it has recently chartered four FSRUs, including two RWE chartered from Hoegh LNG. RWE is also a shareholder in the planned Brunsbuettel LNG import terminal and aims to build an ammonia terminal next to the facility.
Uniper recently started building the first German import terminal in Wilhelmshaven, as part of plans to cut Russian gas supplies, and this facility will host one of the chartered FSRUs.
RWE said the partnership with Sempra Infrastructure underlines the company’s role as a “major importer of energy in the coming years, helping to achieve independency of fuel supplies from Russia”.
The firm said Germany would become an “important market” for LNG, purchased from different regions of the world to diversify Germany’s supply sources.
Besides the US, Qatar and Australia are key countries for LNG production and supply, it said.
