Brunsbüttel LNG Pipelines

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Brunsbüttel LNG Pipelines are proposed natural gas pipelines to serve proposed LNG terminals in Germany.

Location

The pipelines would connect two terminals planned in Brunsbüttel — Brunsbüttel LNG Terminal and Brunsbüttel FSRU — to the existing natural gas network in Germany.

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Project details

Pipeline 1 (Port to SH Netz)

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• Operator:
• Owner: Gasunie
• Parent company: Gasunie
• Capacity:
• Length: 3 km
• Diameter:
• Status: Proposed
• Start year: 2023 (inferred from timeline of associated terminal)
• Cost:
• Financing:
• Associated infrastructure: Brunsbüttel FSRU

Pipeline 2 (Brunsbüttel to Hetlingen)

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• Operator:
• Owner: Gasunie
• Parent company: Gasunie
• Capacity:
• Length: 55 km
• Diameter:
• Status: Proposed
• Start year: 2026
• Cost:
• Financing:
• Associated infrastructure: Brunsbüttel LNG Terminal

Background

The pipelines were submitted for approval to the German government in 2022, arising as part of the associate terminals. Gasunie is behind the pipelines, citing the LNG Acceleration Act that came into force on 1 June 2022.

Pipeline 1, associated with the FSRU, was expected to be operational by the end of 2022, and Friedrich Vorwerk was awarded the contract for its construction, within a joint venture with Austraia's Habau Group. Construction on Pipeline 2 was expected to begin in 2023.

Opposition

German group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) submitted official comments in August 2022 calling for the longer of the two pipelines to be rejected for approval. The group noted this pipeline would serve the longer-term, onshore Brunsbüttel LNG Terminal, noting the shorter pipeline should only be allowed if it were to serve the short-term gas crisis.

A local farmer noted that moor layers must be drained to build the pipelines, and this drainage process releases greenhouse gases.