At the German coasts, large amounts of LNG are currently being delivered, the majority of which come from the United States. More heat pumps could reduce the demand.
dpa/ | In the first quarter of 2026, as much liquefied natural gas (LNG) was fed into the grid at the German coasts as in no three-month period before. At the three German terminals Brunsbüttel as well as Wilhelmshaven 1 and 2, natural gas arrived with an energy amount of more than 25 terawatt-hours. This was announced by the state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal Company (DET). The Iran war has so far had no major impact on LNG handling at the German terminals. The majority of Germany’s LNG imports came from the USA.
The government coalition had initiated the construction of LNG loading facilities in Germany after Russia had halted pipeline gas deliveries in response to Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine. The government planned with enormous buffers, which in recent years manifested in relatively low utilization of the facilities. The opposition criticized this as a waste of tax money. Climate experts also warned that the investments could encourage too strong and too long a use of fossil gas.
In addition to the three DET-operated terminals in Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbüttel, there is also the Rügen LNG terminal in Mukran operated by Deutsche Regas. The start of another DET-operated LNG terminal in Stade was recently delayed – it is expected to be in operation in 2026.
For the refilling of Germany’s natural gas storages, whose fill levels are comparatively low after this winter, LNG imports play a subordinate role according to the initiative Energies Speichern, an association of gas storage operators. LNG recently accounted for around 10 percent of Germany’s gas imports. The much larger amount of gas is imported by pipelines.
Heat Pumps Reduce Gas Demand
Climate protectors repeatedly argue that the energy transition also helps with independence from gas imports. New heat pumps in residential buildings would have reduced Germany’s LNG import costs over the past three years by 1.3 billion euros, estimates the U.S. think tank Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) in an analysis.
German private households installed almost 1.1 million heat pumps between 2022 and 2025. Many of them replaced gas heating systems. Without these heat pumps, Germany would have increased LNG imports in the three years from 2023 to 2025 by about 16 percent and would have spent an additional 1.3 billion euros on LNG imports, the experts calculated.
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