Heuking advises on contract award for construction of Germany’s first LNG terminal

On May 05, 2022, the first pile driving was set in Wilhelmshaven to build Germany’s first LNG terminal. The Cologne-based Heuking team led by Ulf Christiani advised the client, the state of Lower Saxony’s port company (Niedersachsen Ports), on awarding the construction services and assisted in ensuring the fastest possible start of construction by designing and implementing an accelerated award procedure.

In view of the need to reorganize the energy supply, the project is being advanced under enormous time constraints. The necessary steps must be taken to prevent the occurrence of a gas shortage and to achieve independence from Russian gas supplies. Wilhelmshaven is currently the only port in Lower Saxony and the only site in Germany to offer the possibility of developing an LNG import facility at very short notice. An existing port facility will be modified to establish a connection to the gas pipeline network via a permanent floating storage regasification unit (FSRU). The first FSRU is expected to connect to sea bridge UVG (Umschlaganlage Voslapper Groden) as early as winter 2022/2023. Additional terminals for importing LNG will also be built in Stade in Lower Saxony and Brunsbüttel in Schleswig-Holstein. Following the conclusion of the award procedure, the contract for construction of the terminal in Wilhelmshaven was awarded to a joint venture consisting of Depenbrock Ingenieurwasserbau GmbH & Co. KG and Kurt Fredrich Spezialtiefbau GmbH.

Counsel to Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co. KG:
Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek:
Ulf Christiani (Lead, Public Sector & Public Procurement)
Susanne Christine Monsig (Public Sector & Public Procurement), both Cologne