Uniper testing market interest in Wilhelmshaven FSRU project

LNG Terminal Wilhelmshaven (LTW), a unit of Uniper, has set out to investigate market participants’ interest in the LNG terminal project in Wilhelmshaven in an open season process.

Uniper, owner of LTW which kicked off the initiative, said that the Open Season process started on Monday. The process has the aim to realize the first LNG import terminal in Germany.

To take part in this Open Season process, interested parties must hand in written expression of interest, and following a non-disclosure agreement, LTW will grant access to further details of the project.

Afterward, the participants can conclude a still non-binding agreement with LTW until July 19, 2019. According to the company, the conclusion of binding contracts is currently planned for mid-October 2019.

Within the next three years, LTW plans to construct an LNG terminal at Germany’s only deepwater port location and start operations.

It is designed as a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), a technology which can be realized economically and quickly. The nominal send-out capacity of LNG will be up to 10 bcm per year.

Connecting it to the natural gas transmission grid only requires roughly 30 kilometers of pipeline to be built in a mainly agricultural setting. LNG tankers will be able to access the facility independently of tides.

Alongside regasification and injection into the transmission grid, the FSRU shall offer the possibility for loading LNG onto bunker barges or tank trucks for road transport making the chilled fuel locally available.

Uniper is currently in talks with potential partnering companies from the natural gas and LNG industry regarding a majority share in the terminal company, which shall act as an independent terminal operator.