Clifford Chance advises on €1.6b Germany’s first land-based terminal for liquefied gases
Clifford Chance has advised Hanseatic Energy Hub GmbH on the financing of the development, construction and operation of Germany’s first onshore terminal for liquefied gases. The total investment volume amounts to approx. 1.6 billion euros.
By reaching financial close, Hanseatic Energy Hub GmbH has achieved an important milestone. The terminal in Stade near Hamburg is the first project-financed onshore LNG terminal in Germany.
The official ground-breaking ceremony for the energy hub in the Stade industrial park is scheduled to be held in the coming weeks. The facility is set to receive its first cargo in 2027. In a first expansion phase, an emission-free LNG terminal is to be put into operation, the infrastructure of which is also authorised for bio-LNG and synthetic natural gas (SNG). This will later be followed by ammonia as a carbon-neutral, hydrogen-based energy carrier.
With a total capacity of 13.3 billion cubic metres of LNG per year, the Hanseatic Energy Hub will play an important role in securing the energy supply and supporting the energy transition in both Germany and wider Europe. In addition, the FSRU “Energos Force”, one of five floating LNG terminals chartered by Germany’s federal government and on site since March 2024, will continue to secure the gas supply in the short term until the more efficient land-based terminal is completed.
The multi-jurisdictional team led by partner Florian Mahler of Clifford Chance Germany was composed of lawyers from various jurisdictions including Madrid, with the participation of our partners Eugenio Fernández-Rico and Iñigo Villoria and associates Álvaro Cabaleiro Díaz and María González Rubio, as well as London, Frankfurt, Munich, New York and Luxembourg.
