Links NW Germany with Belgium's Zeebrugge LNG terminal
Zeelink also able to carry 'green' gas in future: OGE
Dutch onshore Groningen field set to close in mid-2020s
The Zeelink gas pipeline -- designed to connect consumers in northwest Germany directly to the Zeebrugge LNG terminal in Belgium -- has started flowing gas, a project spokesman said May 10, bringing additional supply security to one of Europe's biggest demand centers.
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Register NowZeelink -- developed by a joint venture of Open Grid Europe (OGE) and fellow German grid operator Thyssengas -- carries high-calorific gas (H-gas) to German consumers that are traditionally buyers of low-calorific gas (L-gas ) from the giant Groningen gas field in the Netherlands.
Construction of the Eur695 million ($845 million) pipeline -- with a capacity of 26.4 million cu m/d, or 9.6 Bcm/year -- began in April 2019 and was completed in March this year.
"The Zeelink gas pipeline connects the European energy infrastructure even more closely and therefore stands for security of supply," Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, said at a ceremony to mark the launch of the pipeline.
Jorg Bergmann, spokesman for the management of OGE, added: "Zeelink is not only one of our largest projects, but also a state-of-the-art pipeline system that is future-proof."
"Today natural gas is the focus, but in the future it will be green gases," Bergmann said.
German demand
Germany's overall gas demand is around 90 Bcm/year and the west and northwestern parts of the country are major industrial gas consumers.
However, users in the past have relied on L-gas from the giant Groningen field, whose production has been slashed in recent years because of the risk of earthquakes associated with drilling.
Germany is currently working to convert huge numbers of L-gas appliances in the region to be able to take H-gas, with 2021 set to see a record number of conversions in households and businesses.
About 570,000 device adjustments are planned this year -- more than for any other year -- while in total, some 5 million gas appliances such as boilers, kitchen stoves or water heaters in private households and businesses will have to be converted by 2030.
Conversions need to be accelerated given the nearer-than-expected date for Groningen's closure, with about 60% of German L-gas consumption estimated to be provided by imports from the Netherlands.
The Dutch government in February said it expects to reduce the quota for gas production from Groningen to 3.9 Bcm for the next gas year (October 2021-September 2022).
The quota for output from Groningen -- operated by the Shell /ExxonMobil joint venture NAM -- in the current gas year, running from October 2020 to September 2021, is 8.1 Bcm.
The Dutch government has accelerated the phase-out of Groningen production and had hoped to end production by mid-2022.
However, a "minimum" flow is now expected to continue from the field -- seen at 1.3 Bcm in Gas Year 22 (October 2022-September 2023) -- with full closure likely between mid-2025 and mid-2028.
In the meantime, Zeelink -- which runs for 216 km from near Aachen on the border with Belgium to Legden -- will help with H-gas supply to northwest German consumers.
Qatar capacity
The commissioning of Zeelink comes as Qatar has signed up to take all the capacity at the 9 Bcm/year Zeebrugge LNG terminal, securing long-term entry capacity for its LNG into the European gas market.
Zeelink will therefore enable Qatar to have direct access to customers in Germany, which itself has plans for two LNG import terminals on its northern coast.
Qatar Petroleum signed the deal in September 2019 to take full capacity at the terminal from the expiry of the existing long-term unloading contracts and up to 2044.
The existing capacity contracts at Zeebrugge begin to expire from 2023 until around 2028.
More capacity will, however, become available at Zeebrugge after operator Fluxys in February this year took the final investment decision to expand the terminal's capacity by an additional 6 million mt/year (8.3 Bcm/year).
It is expected that the full additional capacity will be available from early 2026.
Qatar Petroleum already had 50% of the 9 Bcm/year of regasification capacity at Zeebrugge, but its deal to take more comes as Qatar Petroleum plans to raise the country's LNG production capacity to 126 million mt/year from 77 million mt/year with the construction of new mega trains.
Qatar Petroleum already has long-term capacity bookings for its LNG supplies to the UK at South Hook and Italy at Adriatic LNG.
It also agreed to book 4.2 Bcm/year of capacity at the 10 Bcm/year capacity Montoir LNG import facility in western France and up to 7.2 million mt/year of capacity at the UK's Isle of Grain terminal starting from mid-2025.
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