On Monday, U.S. industrial materials giant Dow announced it has agreed to take a minority stake in a major German LNG infrastructure project, the Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH), and is working with HEH’s current members to advance Germany’s capabilities to import supplies of liquified natural gas (LNG), bio-liquified natural gas and synthetic natural gas through the construction of an import terminal.
The HEH consortium, which now includes Dow, Belgian natural gas transmission company Fluxys, Swiss-based private equity group Partners Group and German port logistics provider Buss Group, is planning to build, own, and operate an import terminal for liquified gases on Dow’s Stade, Germany industrial park. This zero-carbon emission terminal is to be built by 2026 and will be co-located with Dow’s facilities in Stade. Dow is contributing the land for the construction of the terminal as well as infrastructure services, off-gas heat, site services and mutual harbor use rights.
With a projected regasification capacity of 13.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year, the import terminal supports the Joint Statement between the European Commission and the United States on European Energy Security by satisfying up to 15 percent of Germany’s current natural gas demand. The agreement would also allow the United States to meet nearly 25% of its goal to export 50 bcm of natural gas annually to Europe by 2030. The terminal will also repurpose off-gas heat at the Dow site for the carbon emissions-free regasification of the liquefied gas back to its gaseous state.
“This collaboration to construct an LNG import terminal in Germany takes a major step in enabling a stable, cost-effective and sustainable supply of energy to Europe,” said Neil Carr, president of Dow Europe, Middle East, Africa and India. “For Dow, this allows us to make a significant contribution to transforming the energy supply in Germany in support of its 2045 climate targets while increasing the competitiveness of Stade, a site important for serving Dow customers throughout Europe.”
While Germany is retiring nuclear and coal fired power generation, its dependency on natural gas is expected to increase as a transition fuel until sufficient renewable energy is available longer term. Today, Germany receives approximately half of its natural gas through pipeline imports from Russia and the country currently has no LNG regasification and import facilities of its own.
The project is subject to final investment decision, which is expected by 2023.
Last week, the European Commission selected Dow ACCUTRACE Plus Fuel Marker as the new common fiscal marker for tax rebated fuels in the European Union (EU). The decision to adopt a new fiscal marker, also known as Euromarker, aims to provide Member States a safer, more resilient marker to support governments’ fuel fraud prevention programs.
