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Deutsche ReGas announced the termination of the contract with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection in a statement on Monday.
The vessel is one of two floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) currently operating at the “Deutsche Ostsee” LNG import terminal in Mukran.
Since December 2024, state-owned LNG terminal operator DET has been systematically marketing its capacities for the regulated LNG terminals at prices “significantly below” the cost-covering fees approved by the German Federal Network Agency, Deutsche ReGas said.
This has led and continues to lead to “significant market distortion” in Germany, according to the firm.
“DET’s ruinous pricing policy since December 2024 is one of several reasons for terminating
the sub-charter contract. Deutsche ReGas regrets being forced to take this step,“ said Ingo
Wagner, managing partner of Deutsche ReGas.
“We continue to closely consult with the German government in this regard. In the event of a supply shortage, an immediate solution can be found at any time from ReGas’s perspective,” he said.
Mukran LNG terminal
In June 2023, Deutsche ReGas signed a deal with the German government to sub-charter the vessel delivered in 2021 by Hudong-Zhonghua.
The firm took over the charter of the unit in October of the same year, while the FSRU arrived in Mukran in February 2024.
This FSRU is owned by US-based Energos Infrastructure, controlled by asset manager Apollo.
Besides this unit, the Mukran LNG terminal consists of the 2009-built 145,000-cbm, FSRU Neptune.
This unit is 50 percent owned by Hoegh Evi and sub-chartered by Deutsche ReGas from French energy giant TotalEnergies, who also holds capacity rights at the Mukran facility along with trader MET.
In September 2024, Deutsche ReGas launched commercial operations at its Mukran LNG terminal, which can handle up to 13.5 cbm per year and is the largest such facility in Germany.
DET’s terminals
DET currently operates the Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven 1 FSRU-based terminals and is working to launch two further FSRU-based facilities in Stade and Wilhelmshaven.
The state-owned company recently said it had allocated all of the offered 2025 regasification slots at two of its FSRU-based terminals.
“The average price achieved in the December auction was EUR 0.11/MMBtu, while the average price in the February auction was EUR 0.30/MMBtu,” DET said.