Deutsche ReGas launches bidding round for expansion of Mukran FSRU capacity

Deutsche ReGas has opened a three-month bidding round for the expansion of the Mukran floating storage and regasification unit’s (FSRU) capacity, the private operator announced on April 4.

Located on Ruegen Island in the Baltic Sea, the Deutsche ReGas plans to expand the FSRU’s capacity by 5bn cubic metres per year for the period of 2027 to 2043. The offshore facility supplies the super-chilled fuel to onshore grids via pipeline from Gascade’s new OAL pipeline.

The announcement comes despite Deutsche ReGas finding itself in the midst of a dispute with state-run Deutsche Energy Terminal (DET), which it has accused of using unfairly low fees to attract cargoes at its North Sea terminals.

Nevertheless, Deutsche ReGas has confirmed that it still intends to restart a second FSRU and restore Mukran’s full capacity of 13.5 bcm per year by 2027.

Currently, the private operator is solely utilising an FSRU named Neptune from Norwegian operator Hoegh at Mukran. In February, Deutsche Regas cancelled a second FSRU, named Energos Power, as it struggled with limited utilisation.

The news comes as construction pushes ahead on the land-based Brunsbuettel LNG facility, which could come online at the start of 2027. The terminal is a joint venture between Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie and German energy firm RWE and has received over €40mn in funding from the European Commission.

An FSRU also began operating at Brunsbuettel in 2023, which was initially chartered and operated by RWE’s trading arm before it was transferred to DET.

Germany has been pushing hard to strengthen its energy security with the rapid construction of FSRU’s since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 caused Berlin to pivot away from Russian pipeline gas.

The country’s first FSRU, Wilhelmshaven 1, began operating in December 2022 on the North Sea. Plans exist to build a second FSRU to moor at Wilhelmshaven, but DET still has yet to announce a construction and commissioning timeline.