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Deutsche ReGas, the operator of the Mukran FSRU-based facility, said in a statement on Monday that the action was lodged with the competent court of the European Union on January 16.
The company noted that the construction and operation of the LNG import infrastructure of the terminal “Deutsche Ostsee” in Mukran, as well as the construction and operation of the previous LNG terminal in Lubmin, were financed privately without any state aid.
During the current heating season, in the fourth quarter of 2025, “by far the largest volume” of gas of all German LNG terminals was delivered via the Mukran FSRU-based facility supplying 15 percent of German households and commercial customers with gas, the company said.
The Mukran LNG terminal currently consists of the 2009-built 145,000-cbm, FSRU Neptune, after Deutsche ReGas terminated the charter contract for the 174,000-cbm FSRU Energos Power with the German government.
In June, Deutsche ReGas and Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy reached a mutual agreement on resolving the sub-charter agreement for the FSRU Energos Power.
State aid “unnecessary”
“Since the energy crisis in 2022, we have built two privately financed LNG terminals in record time at less than a tenth of the cost of the federal government’s terminals,” Ingo Wagner, CEO of Deutsche ReGas, said.
“As a private infrastructure operator, we make an important contribution to security of supply. The 5 billion euros of state aid for the German LNG terminals are unnecessary and harm competition,” he said.
“Further, they lead to a reduction in capacity, have adverse effects on the filling of German gas storage, and thus weaken security of supply,” Wagner said.
LNG Prime invited DET, the operator of three FSRU-based facilities in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel, to comment on the legal challenge.
A DET spokesman said that the company “cannot comment on a lawsuit filed by Deutsche ReGas against the EU Commission.”
