German LNG terminal operator Deutsche Energy Terminal expects to welcome the 174,000-cbm FSRU Transgas Force at the new jetty in Stade by the end of March.
In December, the FSRU left Germany’s Bremerhaven and now serves as an LNG carrier until its deployment in Stade.
The Stade FSRU-based LNG terminal will have a capacity of some 6 bcm per year and will be replaced by Hanseatic Energy Hub’s planned onshore LNG import terminal in 2027.
According to its AIS data on Monday, Transgas Force recently delivered a US LNG cargo to UK’s Grain LNG terminal and is now heading back to the US.
DET, the state-owned operator of the FSRU-based facilities in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel, said in November it was planning to commission its FSRU-based facilities in Stade and the second facility in Wilhelmshaven in the first quarter of 2024.
The LNG terminal operator expected Transgas Force to arrive in Stade in mid-February.
“We currently expect the FSRU to arrive in Stade at the end of the first quarter,” a DET spokesman told LNG Prime on Friday.
In the meantime, US-based Energos Infrastructure, a joint venture majority-controlled by asset manager Apollo and minority shareholder New Fortress Energy, purchased the 2021-built FSRU from Greece’s Dynagas, as well as its sister vessel Transgas Power.
The vessels will be renamed Energos Force and Energos Power,
Earlier in 2023, both of the FSRUs started long-term charter contracts with the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Change.
The second FSRU is planned to operate in the port of Mukran later this year and has been subchartered to private player Deutsche ReGas.
Second Wilhelmshaven terminal
Excelerate’s FSRU Excelsior is currently located at the Navantia yard in El Ferrol, Spain for a planned technical stop ahead of the start of its job in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
In October last year, US FSRU owner Excelerate signed a charter deal with Germany for the 2005-built 138,000-cbm FSRU.
The vessel will serve the second FSRU-based facility in Wilhelmshaven.
Belgium-based TES and France’s Engie are DET’s service providers for the Wilhelmshaven 2 terminal and the facility will have a capacity of about 4 bcm per year.
DET’s spokesman said that the company currently expects commissioning to start at the second Wilhelmshaven terminal at the end of the second quarter of 2024.
The spokesman noted that large projects such as these terminals take about 5-6 years to complete.
However, DET will set up the operation of its four terminals in the German North Sea in less than two years, and thus fulfil its mission to ensure security of supply, he said.
Contracts and capacity bookings
DET recently awarded a contract to Lithuanian LNG terminal operator KN for the commercial management of its four LNG terminals.
It also awarded a contract to compatriot tugboat owner Fairplay Towage.
Besides these contracts, DET is also holding capacity auctions for regasification slots.
In December, DET allocated 11 regasification slots at its Stade FSRU-based LNG import terminal.
DET held capacity auctions on December 11 and 14 for in total 15 regasification slots.
This is the second time DET marketed regasification capacities for its FSRU-based terminals in digital auction rounds after auctions for the Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven 1 sites.
Further auctions for both short-term and long-term capacity are planned for all four DET FSRU-based terminals in April 2024.