Germany’s Hanseatic Energy Hub says market players showed interest to book the full capacity at its planned Stade LNG import terminal after it completed the non-binding phase of an open season.
To remind, the Stade LNG terminal developer launched the open season back in December followed by another announcement in January where the firm extended the deadline for submissions to February 15.
Hanseatic said on Monday the non-binding phase “confirmed market interest from global players supporting the full planned capacity of the terminal.”
Located on the Elbe river within the Dow industrial park, the terminal will have a 12 Bcm/year capacity, making it the largest planned LNG terminal in northern Germany.
Besides offering send-out to the German gas grid and for local consumption, the facility will also enable reloading to LNG tankers, river barges for bunkering, trucks and on-site rail. Plans also include hydrogen and bio-LNG.
“Large global players”
The German firm said in September last year it had signed letters of intent with nine players interested in taking capacity at the terminal.
In addition, the open season has attracted interest from “very large global players” that Hanseatic had not previously signed letters of intent with, it said.
“The bids and volume requests we received confirms our proposal to base the development on 12 BCM/a capacity. We continue to move ahead with our technical design and permitting according to schedule,” managing director Manfred Schubert, said.
“We designed the non-binding phase of our open season to not just secure volume indications, but to truly engage our potential customers and actively work on ensuring that we offer what they need to be successful,” Hanseatic commercial and regulatory director Danielle Stoves said.
He added the process would help the developer in its efforts to create the first version of the terminal user agreement.
Furhermore, Hanseatic will now work with potential customers to finalize the detailed commercial offering and the terminal user agreement ahead of launching the binding phase of the open season in the second quarter of this year.
The binding phase will also be open to any further interested parties, the firm said.
Hanseatic says its team includes LNG infrastructure, energy, port specialists, and external experts.
The partners aim to start construction of the facility in 2022 and launch it in 2026.