A fourth floating storage and regasification unit has arrived in Germany as the planned build-out of the country’s LNG receiving facilities continues.
Local press reports said the 174,000-cbm Energos Force (ex-Transgas Force, built 2021) arrived at the industrial port of Butzfleth in Stade today. The vessel is in ballast.
Deutsche ReGas affiliate Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET) will operate the FSRU for the Hanseatic Energy Hub in the Elbe River port of Stade.
DET said the FSRU, which arrived in ballast, will begin test operations over the next few weeks.
The unit, which has a regasification capacity of up to 5bn cbm, is expected to begin receiving cargoes for regasification in April.
Its new owner, Energos Infrastructure, will handle regasification at the terminal with Lithuania’s KN Energies co-ordinating the LNG carrier berthing, gas flows and reporting on behalf of DET.
DET managing director Peter Rottgen said: “This third DET LNG import terminal is an important step for many companies that, despite technical efforts, are still dependent on large quantities of natural gas for the time being.”
The Energos Force was originally due to arrive in Germany in February.
It loaded at Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG facility in the US but discharged this cargo at Germany’s Brunsbuttel terminal later that month and retreated to Rotterdam.
The Energos Force and its sister ship — Energos Power (built 2021) — are both on 10-year time charters that began in early 2023 to the German Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Change.
The Energos Power is scheduled to serve as the import unit in the port of Mukran and has been subchartered to Deutsche ReGas.
Germany put three FSRUs into operation in the winter of 2022/2023 at Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbuttel and Lubmin ports as it moved to find quick start-up alternatives to Russian pipeline gas.
Another trio of regas units — including the two Energos ships — were due to arrive at Wilhelmshaven, Mukran and Stade during the 2023/2024 winter. But the scheduling on these slipped, partly due to a milder-than-expected winter and full gas storage levels.
DET said Wilhelmshaven expects another FSRU to be in operation by the end of the year.
