US companies expect to begin exports of LNG to Germany in four years at the latest, challenging Russia which now accounts for 60% of German gas imports, said the deputy US energy secretary Dan Brouillette in an interview to the German newspaper Bild on Monday.
Responding to this, German government spokeswoman Martina Fietz told media that the German gas market is open to all market participants and supply chain players are to decide on specific supply relationships.
In July, US President Donald Trump accused Germany of being a “captive” of Russia due to its energy reliance and urged it to halt work on the $11 billion, Russian-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline which is to be built in the Baltic Sea. Germany rejects this charge and says it is open to diversifying its energy sources, but says sales will ultimately be determined on economic grounds, Reuters reported.
Mr. Brouilette added that the entry of US suppliers onto the German market would set a price ceiling for the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom that leads the Nord Stream 2 consortium, and other suppliers.
On his turn, US Ambassador Richard Grenell told the newspaper that Chancellor Angela Merkel had assured Trump personally that Germany wanted to purchase US LNG supplies.
The debate of German LNG imports has risen in recent weeks as operators and the government have shown an interest in diversifying away from pipeline gas arriving from Russia, Norway and the Netherlands, according to Reuters.
On the sidelines of a conference in Berlin last week, Qatar’s Emir revealed plans to invest 10 billion EUR (US$11.6 billion) over the next five years, to bolster ties with Germany, including the possible creation of a LNG terminal.
German firms are considering building an LNG terminal in Germany, as gas demand rises in Europe and the Netherlands. Earlier in September, European energy company RWE and German LNG Terminal GmbH, the joint venture driving Germany’s first LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel in Northern Germany, reached an agreement for a considerable part of the terminal’s capacity on a long-term basis.
The total capacity of the combined LNG import and small-scale terminal will be 5 billion cubic metres. Construction work will start in 2020 with the terminal is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2022.