Belgian gas grid operator Fluxys and Russian producer Novatek on Wendesday set up a joint venture to build a LNG terminal in the northern German port city of Rostock by 2022.
The LNG storage terminal will have an import capacity of 300,000m tonnes annually, according to Laurent Remi, spokesman for Fluxys.
However, the project does not include regasification facilities or a connection to the German gas grid.
Instead, the mid-sized terminal will receive LNG carriers from a liquefaction facility which Novatek is currently building in the port of Vysotsk near St Petersburg.
The new terminal comes as Europe aims to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, and LNG is regarded as a cleaner alternative to most other fuels used in transport such as shipping.
The EU is also seeking to diversify its suppliers of natural gas, with Russia’s state-run Gazprom supplying nearly 40% of gas delivered to the continent.
The Rostock project is one of two LNG terminals currently under consideration in Germany.
A German-Dutch joint venture is planning a large facility near the North Sea coast by Hamburg.
