DUH: Germany's Mukran Liquefied Natural Gas terminal is at 5% utilisation during Q1
An analysis released on Monday showed that the German LNG terminal at the Baltic Sea port Mukran was operating at only 5% of its capacity in the first three months of 2025. This is despite local opposition to the project and criticism of the environmental impact.
Germany expanded its natural-gas import options in order to replace Russian pipeline supplies and deployed floating storage units and regasification (FSRUs), causing concerns about overcapacity.
According to a German Environmental Aid (DUH), analysis of Gas Infrastructure Europe data, the Mukran terminal's use dropped from 14% a quarter earlier to 5% during the first three months of this year. It was still located in Lubmin, a town on the Polish border near the port.
The state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH operates the North Sea LNG Terminals Wilhelmshaven (49%) and Brunsbuettel (83%).
DUH, which celebrated its approval anniversary in April, said that the terminal only fed 1.3 billion cubic metres (bcms) of gas to the grid last season. This is about 1.5% the total German gas consumption.
In a press release, Sascha Müller-Kraenner said that the Ruegen LNG Terminal was not only a fossil deadend that threatens our climate and future but also a bad investment which could have been predicted.
Binz has been against the project, claiming that it would harm marine life and hurt tourism.
Deutsche Regas (which operates the Mukran Terminal) said that the terminal feeds 120-150 gigawatts per day to the German grid and expects this volume to stay stable.
The company stated that "the relevance of critical infrastructure is not determined solely by its short-term use, but by the available capacity and utilization during times of high demand, or crises. At most, it will be determined by long-term usage."
It offers regasification through "take or pay" slot contracts that ensure terminal fees, regardless of use.
Deutsche Regas terminated the charter contract with Energos Power FSRU in February. The reason given was the terminals operated by DET have a competitive advantage.
Deutsche Regas announced a bid round on Friday for a long-term capacity of regasification in Mukran. The company is offering 5 bcm extra per year between 2027 and 2043.
It said that it also plans to restart a FSRU to restore the terminal’s full capacity of 13.5 bcm per year by 2027.
DUH reported that Mukran's capacities were not adjusted even after Energos Power left. (Reporting and editing by David Evans; Riham Alkousaa)
(source: Reuters)
