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Costs for liquid gas terminals increase by three and a half billion euros

In the energy crisis, the federal government has so far lacked the infrastructure to absorb liquefied natural gas (LNG).

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Costs for liquid gas terminals increase by three and a half billion euros

In the energy crisis, the federal government has so far lacked the infrastructure to absorb liquefied natural gas (LNG). In the meantime, the situation has improved: on Tuesday, the first pier was opened in Wilhelmshaven. A special ship is to moor there as early as December. However, according to a media report, the costs for this could be significantly higher than the experts had previously expected.

According to a report by “Spiegel”, Germany has to pay at least three and a half billion euros more for the purchase and maintenance of floating liquefied natural gas terminals than previously planned. According to "Spiegel", around 6.56 billion euros in budget funds are currently planned, the magazine reports, citing the Ministry of Economic Affairs (BMWK).

The Budget Committee in the Bundestag approved additional money for the terminals last week. In the budget for 2022, 2.94 billion euros were planned.

In "extensive coordination with numerous stakeholders", "further costs have now been determined and initially forecast costs have been specified", the BMWK has announced. This affects, for example, operating costs and costs for additional infrastructure measures on land.

The budget committee's documents also show that two of the terminals would have to be chartered for 15 years instead of the ten years originally envisaged. Germany had therefore negotiated the option of shortening the period to ten years, but had to decide on this as early as next year. The left-wing budget politician Victor Perli was quoted by the "Spiegel": "The traffic light coalition has come to terms with the use of LNG gas without any alternative made blackmailable and now has to pay billions more.”

And the Green budget politician Sven Christian Kindler said: "In the short term, the gas supply must be secured, but we must be careful not to create any fossil overcapacities for the future. We need more clarity in the budget committee about the costs and risks of the LNG projects.”

The operators of the gas storage facilities in Germany had recently been optimistic about the coming months: the country would "get through the winter well," they said on Friday in Berlin. Theoretically, gas shortages "cannot yet be completely ruled out" - but given the current weather forecasts, such shortages are "extremely unlikely".

The storage tanks could also be “extensively” filled for the coming winter. This is primarily dependent on LNG imports to Europe.

The currently 14 storage operators are united in the Energy Storage Initiative (Ines). According to their own statements, they represent over 90 percent of German gas storage capacities and are currently also developing underground hydrogen storage facilities.

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