LNG has become the last resort for energy-hungry Germany when Russia reduced flows via the main artery supplying the EU's biggest economy with natural gas. Most of it comes from the United States, but Germany has no import terminals for the superchilled fuel that needs to be regasified at the point of entry into the country.
Stationary LNG import terminals take years to build while floating storage and regasification are much faster to install once their construction is completed.
U.S. LNG volumes, however, are not large enough to fully replace Russian gas flow via pipelines due to production capacity constraints, so Germany needs alternative suppliers, too.
Chief among these could be Qatar, but negotiations between Berlin and Doha ended without a deal earlier this year as the Qataris insist on long-term contracts and a clause that would oblige Germany not to resell any gas it is not using.
Meanwhile, the head of Germany's energy regulator warned that gas consumption would have to be cut deeper than the EU-wide voluntary 15 percent, to 20 percent if the country is to avoid a harsh winter of shortages.
By the way, it was a reader who alerted me to floating natural gas storage and regasification ships more than a year ago, maybe more than two years ago. Thank you very much
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