The first tanker carrying LNG from the United States (US) arrived in Germany on January 3, a move hailed as a step toward greater energy security for the country but frowned upon by local environmental groups.
The shipment, which arrived in Wilhelmshaven, comes as the US has emerged as one of the world’s largest exporters of LNG, Maritime Executive reports. It also follows just months after the German federal government began developing LNG import terminals using chartered floating storage regasification units (FSRUs).
The Maria Energy, a 93300-dwt gas carrier owned by Tsakos Energy Navigation, docked with the Hoegh Esperanza, the first of five FSRUs chartered by the German government. It arrived in mid-December.
The gas carrier was completing a trip that had begun at the US terminal in Calcasieu Pass, Louisiana, loading approximately 170 000 cbm of LNG and departing on December 19. Venture Global supplied the LNG to the terminal, which is being operated by Uniper. The shipment will provide gas to fuel 50 000 German homes for up to a year.
German police escorted the tanker into the port after environmental groups announced that they were planning protests against the arrival of the vessel.
“The fact that Germany is buying fracking gas directly from the USA for the first time today is no reason to be happy,” said Sascha Müller-Kraenner, federal director of the German Environmental Aid (Deutsche Umwelthilfe – DUH). The group warned against the use of the fracking method of gas extraction in the US, which is banned in Germany and elsewhere due to the controversy over methane slip.
Full operations are expected to be up and running at the Wilhelmshaven terminal by mid-January as testing is still under way. Uniper reported that the next tanker should arrive next week.
Meanwhile, the United States emerged as one of the world’s largest exporters of gas in 2022, just six years after LNG exports started from the Gulf of Mexico. According to Bloomberg, the US tied with Qatar in 2022 as the largest exporter, with each country shipping approximately 81 million tons of LNG.
