Friday, June 29, 2007
RWE and Excelerate to build German Gasport at Wilhelmshaven
June 29, 2007
Gas Matters
RWE has announced plans to develop an LNG import project at Wilhelmshaven in north Germany in conjunction with Excelerate Energy and Nord-West Oelleitung GmbH (NWO). The project, called German GasPort, would use similar onboard regasification technology to Excelerate’s GasPort LNG facility at Teesside in the UK. The German GasPort is expected to be able to feed up to 14.4 MMcm/d of gas directly into the German gas pipeline network by late 2010. The timing of the project coming onstream will depend on the pace of various German authority approvals. The LNG would initially be sourced by Excelerate, though there is the possibility of sourcing LNG from some RWE Dea upstream assets in the future. “It is our aim to significantly strengthen our position in the gas business,” said Harry Roels, CEO of RWE, “and to ensure Germany has access to multiple sources of gas to guarantee security of supply.
A German GasPort meets both of these objectives.” RWE and Excelerate’s project will have to compete for supply with E.ON Ruhrgas’ proposed 27 MMcm/d onshore LNG terminal, also at Wilhelmshaven. No investment decision has been made on E.ON Ruhrgas’ project, which is also targeted for a 2010 start up, though the company is currently in talks with Iran and Algeria for LNG supply.
