German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday hosted Germany’s second launch of natural gas (LNG) since its dependence on Russian gas came to an end, celebrating the country’s ability to weather the winter and avoid power outages.
The Lubmin LNG terminal began operating on Saturday in northeastern Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
Last December, Germany opened its first facility in Wilhelmshaven in the northwest. A third station should soon be operational in the northern town of Brunsbüttel.
Scholz praises ‘getting through the winter’
Scholz praised the government’s efforts to prepare the electronics as he attended the inauguration of the new terminal.
“We are going through the winter, everyone is watching at home, the gas is not affected,” he said.
“There has never been a financial crisis in Germany,” Scholz said, adding that this was due to the government’s ability to quickly turn around energy infrastructure, secure new gas sources and launch multibillion-euro aid programs.
Europe’s biggest economy has been scrambling to avoid an energy crisis after Russia’s war on Ukraine forced it to cut a contract with its biggest gas supplier.
In 2021 alone, Germany received 60 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the completed Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The pipeline ran under the Baltic Sea and delivered Russian gas to Germany, before Russia suspended the flow in September last year, citing equipment problems.
Shortly after, Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, which were not yet operational, the pipelines were mysteriously damaged which made them inactive. Western countries have said the massacre was deliberate.
What do we know about the new terminal?
The Lubmin area has been injected with gas since the beginning of the week, as an experimental project. The shopping center is the only one with private funds in Germany.
It is expected to supply natural gas to the east of the country up to 5.2 billion cubic meters per year.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Governor Manuela Schwesig praised her government’s efforts in energy security when she attended the event on Saturday. He said the new facility shows that the government is ready to do everything to ensure that energy is sufficient and affordable.
LNG from several parts of the world by ship arrives at the new processing site to be converted into gas and injected into the grid.
Germany has made several gas deals in recent months, including an agreement to receive about 2 million tons of LNG from Qatar a year.
rmt/sms (AFP, dpa)
