The import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by ship to Germany has risen to a record high, with the third quarter of 2025 marking the largest volume fed into the grid since the country’s first LNG terminal opened in Wilhelmshaven in late 2022, according to data from the network regulator BNetzA.

The figures show that more gas has been delivered at LNG terminals on Germany’s coast this year than in each of the previous years.

According to BNetzA, the LNG share of Germany’s overall gas imports has increased too. After standing at 8% in the first half of 2025, as in the previous year, the authority put the figure for the third quarter at 13.25%. This equates to a 10.9% share for the first nine months of 2025.

The amount of LNG imported into Germany by the end of September this year totals around 74 terawatt hours, of which about 35 terawatt hours were delivered in the third quarter, according to BNetzA. This compares to around 69 terawatt hours in all of 2024, and around 70 terawatt hours in 2023.

Gas expert Sebastian Gulbis of consultancy Enervis sees several reasons for the increase. “On the one hand, further capacity was added in August,” he said. On the North Sea coast, the specialist vessel Excelsior — the second floating LNG terminal in Wilhelmshaven — began commercial operation that month.

“The other thing that cannot be ignored is that on January 1, 2025, Russian transport contracts for flows towards Austria expired,” Gulbis noted. “This means that Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland and in part Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia are being supplied via Germany. We have once again become a far more important transit country.”

– dpa