DW: Much money for nothing when it comes to LNG?

On March 5, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ursula von der Leyen made a mistake—but not exactly a mistake: “The EU must reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels,” she tweeted. president of the EU Commission, worried that Russia would turn off the natural gas tap to Europe, praising Spain “as a pioneer, with a high percentage of renewable energy sources and potential in liquefied natural gas”.

The problem, however, is this: liquefied natural gas (LNG) is pumped out of the ground and eventually burned, with devastating effects on the environment. Of course, von der Leyen is also aware of this specific problem. However, the pioneer of the Green Deal in Europe, which aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, still confuses the issue of LNG with renewable energies.

This confusion could, however, be fatal for Europe, both economically and ecologically. This is because the infrastructure, in which Europe is now investing billions, may become obsolete or become more expensive if the EU does not want to make the existing climate crisis even worse.

LNG on the rise – with costs at their zenith

The largest consumer of natural gas in Europe is Germany. It is followed by Italy, the Netherlands, Slovakia and France, according to Eurostat. Specifically, these countries are trying to replace natural gas imports from Russia with supplies from elsewhere.

Huge amounts of government funds are currently flowing into LNG terminals, where the liquefied gas, in a cooling state, is unloaded and heated until it is piped into the networks – now in gaseous form. And for the moment the terminals are few and are located mainly in the North and Baltic Seas.

Concerns over the LNG expansion project

To replace Russian gas, gas from other sources must first be transported to Europe by tankers. These LNG tankers can hold up to 175,000 cubic meters of LNG. Replacing the annual 167 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas in Europe requires about 1,800 shiploads – that’s five a day.

According to the German Institute of Maritime Economics in Bremen, such a venture would require around 160 new tankers for the transport. At a cost of $220 million each – a $35 billion investment.

In addition, liquefied natural gas will have to be transported from Spain, via France and the Netherlands to central and eastern Europe, instead of from east to west, as has been the case until now. However, since natural gas pipelines operate as “one-ways”, a reverse flow is only possible under very limited conditions.

At the Economist Sustainability Summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called fossil energy “a bad investment that wastes billions”. States must “accelerate the phasing out of coal and all fossil fuels,” according to the DG – anything else is “madness.”

DW – Michael Penke, Iulia Merck/ Chrysa Vachcevanou

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