LNG carrier arrivals to the 2009-built 145,000-cbm, FSRU Neptune, have been affected due to extreme ice conditions in the Baltic Sea.
The 174,000-cbm Minerva Amorgos has been waiting off Mukran for days to unload its Plaquemines LNG cargo, its AIS data shows.
“In order for the LNG tanker currently lying at anchor to enter the port, the fairway of the federal waterway must be broken open to a sufficient width,” Deutche ReGas said on Monday.
“Following the malfunction of the federally owned icebreaker Neuwerk on Thursday in the Greifswalder Bodden, we are awaiting further information from the authorities as to when this can take place,” the company said.
“We would like to thank all those involved—particularly the WIROST pilots, the Wasserstraßen- und Schifffahrtsverwaltung Ostsee, the Bundesnetzagentur, and our on-site team—for their efforts to date,” Deutsche ReGas said.
The last LNG tanker to unload a shipment into the FSRU was the 174,000-cbm Maran Gas Nice.
Maran Gas Nice was recently accompanied by the icebreaker Neuwerk, which was still operational at the time, as shown in the image above.
Icebreaker to arrive on Tuesday
A spokesman for Deutsche ReGas provided a further update regarding the situation late on Monday.
“We have now learned that the government icebreaker Mellum with Ice Class3 was mobilised and will arrive in Mukran tomorrow afternoon, and will work together with the icebreaker Bremen Fighter to break up the ice in the federal waterway to the port,” he said.
Deutsche ReGas said the terminal is “ready to receive the vessels and regasify.”
“It will assist with its four tugboats,” the spokesman added.
Regas volumes rising
Deutsche ReGas recently said that its FSRU-based LNG import facility in Mukran regasified 12.9 TWh over the past three months.
The company claims this is the largest gas volume among all floating LNG terminals in Europe during the period.
Moreover, the company is offering up to two billion cubic meters per annum of additional long-term regasification capacity at its FSRU-based LNG terminal.
The LNG terminal operator is advancing its plans to expand its facility on the Baltic Sea to the nameplate capacity of 13.5 bcma under the BNetzA regulatory exemption.
In December, a spokesman for Deutsche ReGas told LNG Prime that the company was running a tender process to bring back a second floating storage and regasification unit at its LNG import facility in Mukran.
The Mukran LNG terminal currently consists of FSRU Neptune, after Deutsche ReGas terminated the charter contract for the 174,000-cbm FSRU Energos Power with the German government.
The FSRU Neptune is 50 percent owned by Hoegh Evi and sub-chartered by Deutsche ReGas from French energy giant TotalEnergies, who also holds capacity rights at the Mukran facility along with trader MET.
(Updated with further comments by a Deutsche ReGas spokesman.)
