Germany is expected to have the world's fourth-largest LNG import capacity by 2030

Germany's import capacity for liquefied natural gas (LNG) is expected to reach 71 million tonnes/year by the end of the current decade, equivalent to 97 billion m3/year of natural gas in gaseous form. By the end of this year, Germany, which had no LNG terminals before 2022, is expected to have a total of seven floating LNG terminals. The information was reported by international news service Argus.

If plans published by Germany's Ministry of Economic Affairs and energy company RWE come to fruition, Germany is expected to have the world's fourth-largest LNG import capacity by 2030, behind South Korea, China and Japan.

To accelerate the growth of its LNG import capacity, Germany is focusing in the short term on floating LNG terminals, which are expected to be gradually replaced by conventional LNG terminals in the second half of the 2020s.

"Germany is expected to have a total of 10 floating terminals. Two are planned in Wilhelmshaven, one in Brunsbüttel and one in Stade, and six in Lubmin, which is set to become Europe's largest LNG import hub. Some floating terminals will cease operating once onshore terminals in Stade, Brunsbüttel and Wilhelmshaven are commissioned," Argus reports.