The energy group EnBW has increased its bookings for the planned liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Stade, giving the project a further boost.

Following an initial booking of three billion cubic meters last year, EnBW has now doubled this to six billion cubic meters, the utility and the operator consortium Hanseatic Energy Hub (HEH) announced on Tuesday. All bookings include the option of switching to ammonia as a hydrogen-based energy source at a later date. The plant on the Elbe will have an annual capacity of 13.3 billion cubic meters. An investment decision is expected in the middle of the year.

"The majority of our capacities have now been marketed for the long term," said Johann Killinger, Managing Director and co-partner of the Hanseatic Energy Hub. This has set an important commercial course for project implementation. The project is supported by the Belgian grid operator Fluxys, the Swiss investment company Partners Group, the logistics group Buss and the chemical giant Dow.

EnBW pointed out that the conversion of liquefied natural gas to hydrogen-based energy sources such as ammonia is already planned in Stade. "The collaboration with the Hanseatic Energy Hub fits in very well with our efforts to become climate-neutral by 2035," explained Georg Stamatelopoulos, Board Member for Sustainable Generation Infrastructure.

(Report by Vera Eckert, Tom Käckenhoff; edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)