German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the opening of Germany’s second liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on Saturday as it ended its dependence on Russian gas, celebrating the country’s ability to weather the winter while avoiding an energy crisis.
The Lubmin LNG terminal was put into operation on Saturday in the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Last December, Germany opened its first terminal in Wilhelmshaven in the northwest. A third terminal will soon be operational in the northern city of Brunsbüttel.
Scholz applauds ‘getting through this winter’
Scholz welcomed the government’s energy planning while attending the launch of the new terminal.
“We are overcoming this winter, everyone notices at home, the gas supply is not affected,” he said.
“There was no economic crisis in Germany either,” Scholz said, adding that this was due to the government’s ability to quickly turn around energy infrastructure, secure new sources of gas and implement aid programs worth billions of euros.
Europe’s biggest economy has worked hard to avoid an energy crisis after Russia’s war on Ukraine forced it to cut ties with its biggest gas supplier.
In 2021 alone, Germany received about 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the now defunct Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The pipeline ran under the Baltic Sea and carried Russian gas to Germany before Russia cut off the flow last September, citing equipment problems.
Shortly after, both Nord Stream 1 and the still unused Nord Stream 2 pipelines were sabotaged in a mysterious incident that rendered them inoperable. Western countries assume that the sabotage was deliberate.
What do we know about the new terminal?
Since the beginning of the week, gas has been injected into the “Lubmin” terminal as a test work. The terminal is the only one in Germany that is fully privately financed.
It is expected that it will supply up to 5.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to the east of the country.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state premier Manuela Schwesig hailed her state’s investment in energy security when she attended Saturday’s launch. He said the new terminal showed that the government is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that energy remains sufficient and affordable.
LNG arriving by ship from several parts of the world arrives at newly commissioned terminals to be turned back into gas and pumped into the grid.
Germany has signed several gas deals in recent months, including a deal to get about 2 million tons of LNG a year from Qatar.
rmt/sms (AFP, dpa)
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