TotalEnergies, Swiss Trader MET Book New LNG Capacity in Germany

(Bloomberg) -- TotalEnergies SE and Swiss energy trader MET Group booked capacity at a new LNG terminal in Germany, helping boost supplies to Europe’s biggest economy as it looks to replace Russian gas. 

TotalEnergies contracted 2.6 billion cubic meters per year in the terminal at Lubmin, it said in a statement. The French company, which has provided a floating storage and regasification vessel with annual capacity of 5 billion cubic meters capacity, will send liquefied natural gas from its global portfolio and become one of Germany’s main supplier of the fuel. 

Germany has turned to LNG from places including the US to Qatar to slash its once heavy reliance on Russia after Moscow’s deep gas supply cuts. It’s pushing through new import terminals, with the first privately financed Lubmin plant scheduled to be inaugurated on Saturday. Five separate state-rented facilities are also coming up, with the first at Wilhelmshaven opened last month.

The latest deal will allow “Germany and Europe to further secure gas supply,” Stéphane Michel, president for gas, renewables & power at TotalEnergies, said in the statement.

Swiss energy trader MET Group also booked long-term capacity at the Deutsche ReGas-operated terminal, as it looks to expand its LNG business in Europe. The company that started LNG trading in 2016, raised its volumes threefold to 3 billion cubic meters as it delivered cargoes to Croatia, Greece, Spain, Belgium and the UK last year.

“If you want to make significant profits trading, it helps to have infrastructure positions to trade off,” Rob Butler, a partner at law firm Baker Botts LLP, said in an interview. “It is not just German utilities that are taking capacity at these new terminals, there are also international oil companies and traders looking at it, because they can make use of that capacity.”

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