Vinci wins liquefied natural gas terminal project

Design image for the Brunsbüttel LNG facility. (Image: Vinci)

France-based construction giant Vinci has been awarded the contract to build a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Germany.

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract, which was secured through Vinci’s Cobra IS subsidiary in consortium with engineering specialist Sener, comprises the design and build of a regasification terminal.

The new facility will be located in the town of Brunsbüttel at the mouth of the Elbe on the North Sea.

It will have two 165,000m³ storage tanks and a production capacity of 8 billion m³ of natural gas per year - an amount that can be further expanded up to 10 billion m³ in the future.

“This terminal will provide strategic infrastructure for the customer German LNG Terminal, and will be located at Brunsbüttel at the mouth of the Elbe on the North Sea” (to the northwest of Hamburg), said Vinci.

“It will enable Germany to import liquefied natural gas by sea, to be unloaded there for storage and regasification before being injected into the German grid or transported by lorries or wagons.”

According to Sener, which in partnership with Cobra has previously completed LNG terminals in Spain, France, The Netherlands and Belgium, the terminal will also be equipped with “two jetties, unloading arms, systems for regasification and gas emission, a BOG (Boil-off Gas) recovery system, a flare stack, auxiliary systems, and a series of buildings specially designed for the operations”.

The LNG installation in Brunsbüttel, which is to be delivered in 2026 with the works lasting 42 months, is part of Germany’s plan to improve its “energy independence”. The total value of the project has not been disclosed.

Earlier this year Germany also announced that construction work for an LNG terminal with onshore and seaward port infrastructure at the Port of Wilhelmshaven could begin, following the approval for an early start from the State Trade Supervisory Authority Oldenburg.

Intended to handle almost one tenth of Germany’s gas requirements, the Wilhelmshaven LNG terminal - located west of Hamburg roughly 250km by road from Brunsbüttel - is being built by energy company Uniper and will provide up to 7.5 billion m³ of natural gas per year.