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Germany cuts the ribbon on first LNG terminal

17 Dec 2022 19 Dec 2022

Germany on Saturday inaugurated its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, built in record time, as the country scrambles to adapt to life without Russian energy.

The rig in the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven was opened by Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a ceremony on board a specialist vessel known as an FSRU, named the Hoegh Esperanza.

“It’s a good day for our country and a sign to the whole world that the German economy will be able to remain strong,” Scholz said from the boat.

The Hoegh Esperanza sounded its horn as the chancellor, dressed in a high visibility jacket, approached.

The ship has already been stocked with gas from Nigeria that could supply 50,000 homes for a year, and the terminal is set to begin deliveries on December 22.

Germany plans to open four more government-funded LNG terminals over the next few months as well as a private terminal in the port of Lubmin.

Together, the terminals could deliver 30 billion cubic metres of gas a year from next year, or a third of Germany’s total gas needs — if Berlin can find enough LNG to service them.

LNG terminals allow for the import by sea of natural gas which has been chilled and turned into a liquid to make it easier to transport.

The FRSU stocks the LNG, then turns it back into a ready-to-use gas.

Until now, Germany had no LNG terminals and relied on cheap gas delivered through pipelines from Russia for 55 percent of its supply.

– Supply worries –

But since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas supplies to Germany have been throttled and Berlin has been forced to rely on LNG processed by Belgian, French and Dutch ports, paying a premium for transport costs.

The government decided to invest in building its own LNG terminals as quickly as possible and has spent billions of euros (dollars) on hiring FSRUs to service them.

However, Germany has not yet signed a single major long-term contract to begin filling the terminals from January.

“The import capacity is there. But what worries me are the deliveries,” Johan Lilliestam, a researcher at the University of Potsdam, told AFP.

A contract has been signed with Qatar for LNG to supply the Wilhelmshaven terminal but deliveries are not set to begin until 2026.

Suppliers want long-term contracts, while the German government is not keen to be locked into multi-year gas deals as it wants the country to become climate-neutral by 2045.

“Companies need to know that the purchasing side in Germany will eventually diminish if we want to meet climate protection targets,” economy minister Robert Habeck has said.

Environmental campaigners have criticised the LNG project, with the DUH association announcing it will take legal action. A handful of protestors turned out in Wilhelmshaven with placards demanding an “End to gas”.

– Cold winter –

Germany could initially be forced to buy LNG from the expensive spot markets, which would lead to higher prices for consumers.

The market could also be squeezed next year by renewed demand in China as it emerges from strict Covid-19 curbs, Andreas Schroeder, an expert at the ICIS energy research institute, told AFP.

“If Europe has been able to receive so much LNG in recent months, it is because Chinese demand was low,” Schroeder said.

China recently signed a deal to buy gas from Qatar for 27 years — the longest such deal in history, according to Doha.

Germany has also had a cold winter so far, meaning the gas tanks have been emptying faster than expected.

“Gas consumption is increasing. This is a risk, especially if the cold spell continues,” said Klaus Mueller, the head of the country’s Federal Network Agency regulatory body, in a recent interview.

As a result, there is a real risk that Germany could experience temporary supply disruptions next winter, according to Schroeder.

Gas usage is currently down 13 percent compared to last year but the government wants that figure to be closer to 20 percent.

In Europe, the gap between supply and demand could reach 27 billion cubic metres (950 billion cubic feet) in 2023, according to an IEA report — equivalent to 6.5 percent of the European Union’s annual consumption.

Malaysia landslide death toll rises to 24

17 Dec 2022 19 Dec 2022

Rescue workers scoured muddy terrain for survivors and bodies on Saturday as the death toll from a landslide at an unauthorised campsite in Malaysia rose to 24, including seven children, authorities said.

Nine people were still missing after a predawn landslide hit the site located at an organic farm near the town of Batang Kali just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

Selangor state fire and rescue director Norazam Khamis said the chances of finding survivors in the mud and debris a day after the disaster were “slim.”

Officials said there had been more than 90 people, most of them asleep, at the campsite near a mountain casino resort when the landslide struck.

Authorities said 61 people had been found safe or rescued.

Two of the victims were “believed to be a mother and her child in a state of embrace buried under the earth”, Norazam told reporters on Friday.

The farm did not have a licence to run a campsite and its operators would be punished if they were found to have broken the law, authorities said.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited the area late Friday and said financial aid would be given to the families of those killed or injured in the disaster.

Selangor state chief minister Amirudin Shari tweeted that all picnic and camping sites in the state would be closed for a week.

– ‘Unprecedented’ –

Landslides are common in Malaysia after heavy rains, which are regular at the end of the year.

However, no heavy rains were recorded in the area on the night of the disaster.

Nor Shahidah Mohd Nazer, a geology expert from the National University of Malaysia, described the landslide as “unprecedented” under the circumstances — involving a gentler slope and not following typical heavy rain.

She said the slope could have been partly affected by monsoon rain from days or even weeks ago.

“Since the soil mass was initially wet and saturated, it behaved as a semi-liquid,” she told AFP.

In March, four people were killed after a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains buried their homes in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

In one of the deadliest such incidents, a huge mudslide in 1993 brought on by heavy rain caused a 12-storey residential building outside the capital to collapse, killing 48 people.

Musk restores some suspended Twitter accounts of journalists

17 Dec 2022 17 Dec 2022

Elon Musk has reinstated the Twitter accounts of several journalists who were suspended after he accused them of endangering his family, with some of those targeted tweeting Saturday they were back on the platform.

Musk had drawn anger and warnings from the EU and United Nations after suspending the accounts of more than half a dozen prominent journalists from the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post.

“The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now,” the Twitter owner tweeted late Friday.

Musk carried out a Twitter poll asking whether he should restore the suspended accounts now or in a week’s time. Nearly 59 percent of the 3.69 million who took part said he should restore the accounts now.

Some of the suspended accounts appeared to have been reactivated, with former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar tweeting again.

“I was pretty bummed about getting suspended initially but quickly realized it’d be fine because I’m blessed to have an amazing online community,” Rupar posted, thanking people for their support.

Later on MSNBC Rupar warned that Twitter’s crackdown, even if temporary, would have a “chilling effect on coverage of Elon Musk” and make reporters think twice about running afoul of the company’s new owner.

The accounts of some other journalists remained suspended early Saturday, including those of Business Insider’s Linette Lopez and former MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann.

The latest controversy began Wednesday when Musk suspended @elonjet, an account that tracked flights of his private plane.

Musk said the move was necessary after a car in Los Angeles carrying one of his children was followed by “a crazy stalker” and seemed to blame the jet tracking for the incident.

Some of the journalists had reported on the affair, including tweets linking to the suspended @elonjet account, which Musk said amounted to offering “assassination coordinates” against him and his family.

In a chat hosted live on Twitter, Musk provided no evidence for his claim but told suspended reporters that on Twitter “everyone’s going to be treated the same… they’re not special because you’re a journalist.”

Pressed further on his allegations, Musk ended the conversation. Twitter Spaces, the feature where the chat took place, was then suspended. The live audio service was back up Friday, with Musk saying they had been fixing a bug.

Musk’s suspensions had drawn sharp criticism from media organizations, the European Union and the United Nations.

UN rights chief Volker Turk welcomed Musk’s decision to reinstate the accounts, “but serious concerns remain,” he posted on Twitter.

He also urged Musk to “commit to making decisions based on publicly-available policies that respect rights, including free speech. Nothing less.”

Earlier the spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres called it a “dangerous precedent at a time when journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats and even worse.”

The EU had warned Twitter could face fines through European laws.

“News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” EU commissioner Vera Jourova tweeted after the move.

– Controversies –

Twitter has lurched from one controversy to the next since Musk took control after paying $44 billion, mainly by selling shares in Tesla, his successful electric car company.

The billionaire’s talk of unfettered speech — and the instability surrounding the company — has scared off major advertisers and caught the attention of regulators.

Musk has reinstated the account of former US president Donald Trump and lashed out against the outgoing key advisor for the US Covid-19 response, Anthony Fauci, a frequent target of vitriol in right-wing media.

CNN has reported that Twitter’s former head of trust and safety fled his home after baseless attacks on Twitter content moderation, endorsed by Musk.

Meanwhile, a purge initiated by Musk at Twitter left more than half of its 7,500 employees out of work, and now many of them are taking the SpaceX and Tesla tycoon to court.

Market tracker Insider Intelligence forecast that Twitter would experience an exodus of users.

“There won’t be one catastrophic event that ends Twitter,” said Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg.

“Instead, users will start to leave the platform next year as they grow frustrated with technical issues and the proliferation of hateful or other unsavory content.”