German energy firm RWE is expecting the 170,000-cbm FSRU Hoegh Gannet, which serves the Elbehafen LNG import terminal in Brunsbuettel, to start regular operations by the end of March.
The FSRU-based terminal, Germany’s third such facility, received its first LNG tanker on February 14.
UAE’s Adnoc provided the shipment under a deal RWE and Adnoc signed in September last year.
Prior to arriving at Brunsbuettel’s Elbehafen port on January 20, the 2018-built FSRU picked up a partial cargo at Reganosa’s Mugardos LNG import terminal in the Ferrol port in Spain.
The vessel, which the German government chartered from Hoegh LNG, will initially operate at the Brunsbuettel Port’s existing dangerous goods berth.
From the end of 2023, the FSRU will be moved to a new jetty to the west of the Elbehafen and this jetty will be built and operated by Brunsbuettel Ports.
FSRU moved again
RWE, the developer of the government-backed project, previously temporarily moved the FSRU to a location offshore Brunsbuettel during the commissioning phase.
The company moved the unit again last week due to complaints by local residents on loud noise coming from the unit.
“The Gannet has been anchored once again due to a noise issue,” a spokesman for RWE told LNG Prime.
The German company previously expected the supplies from the first LNG shipment to be fed into the grid from the end of February as part of the commissioning phase of the FSRU.
“RWE currently still assumes that regasification of the first gas volumes will begin from mid-March and that regular operations will start at the end of March,” the spokesman said.
The spokesman added that the FSRU Hoegh Gannet would return “in such a way that the above-mentioned schedule can be realized.”
The Elbehafen LNG terminal will be the third operational FSRU-based terminal in Germany and the second out of five backed by the German government after the Wilhelmshaven facility.
In January, Deutsche Regas officially launched its FSRU-based LNG import terminal in Lubmin, Germany’s second such facility and the first private terminal.
The five government-backed FSRUs will be operated by new state-owned firm Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH.