Germany closes in on hoisting the LNG flag

Projects jockey to sail Germany into the LNG importers’ club

Anyone with more than a passing familiarity with the European gas market will be no stranger to proposed German LNG import terminals. Various plans have launched over the last 15 years before foundering on the unforgiving rocks of the country's extensive import pipeline and storage capacities and lukewarm attitude to stimulating gas demand. But four projects are now looking decidedly more sea-worthy, buoyed by the twin prospects of Dutch import volumes in long-term decline and government support for an LNG infrastructure expansion. Three large-scale regasification terminals are planned by various backers, while the fourth project is a smaller-scale affair that does not encompass regasificati