German LNG Project Whittles down EPC Longlist (Update)

(Updates with comment at end from Vopak re asset sale)

German LNG Terminal, the joint venture behind the LNG terminal project at Brunsbuettel, northern Germany, said September 30 it had completed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) pre-qualification process that started at the end of June.

The shortlisted companies, all consortia, are Cobra Instalaciones y Servicio and Sener Ingenieria y Sistemas; Hyundai Engineering and Korea Gas Corporation; Sacyr Fluor, Entrepose Contracting/Vinci Construction Grands Projets and Somague; and Tecnicas Reunidas and Heitkamp HIKB.

The award of the EPC contract is planned before the end of April 2020.

The work includes building LNG storage tanks, both with LNG unloading and loading capabilities, as well as LNG vaporisation and distribution facilities with a total import capacity up to 8bn m³/yr.

The launch of the EPC tender is a significant step in the continued development of the German LNG Terminal project, said the operator, and follows the conclusion of the scoping phase at the end of July. It has signed heads of agreement with major European and non-European LNG players, including Axpo. In May, it said it was targeting final investment decision this year.

The German LNG Terminal is a joint venture of Dutch companies Gasunie LNG Holding and Vopak LNG Holding and German Oiltanking. There are two other German LNG terminals in the planning phase: one at Wilhelmshaven, being backed by German Uniper; and one further east, at Rostock, backed by Russian Novatek and Belgian Fluxys. The latter is much smaller and aimed at carrying out small-scale fuelling operations, using Russian LNG.

Vopak announced the same day it was selling its Amsterdam and Hamburg terminals but told NGW that "the sale of our Hamburg terminal does not impact our project GermanLNGTerminal."