FRANKFURT, March 21 (Reuters) - Backers of the LNG

terminal in Germany's Elbe river port of Stade have taken a

final decision to build a land-based terminal from 2027, costing

around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), project firm Hanseatic

Energy Hub (HEH) said on Thursday.

The move is significant as part of Germany's long-term quest

to increase LNG import capacity, which is later to be expressly

used for green gases since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in

February 2022 forced it to find alternatives to Russian gas.

"Following the successful completion of marketing and

approval at the end of 2023, the privately organised consortium,

consisting of Partners Group, Enagas, Dow and

the Buss Group, have now successfully secured the financing,"

HEH said in a statement.

Partners Group was acting on behalf of its customers, it

said.

Enagas is a Spanish grid operator and Buss a logistics firm

while Dow Chemicals has a site in the vicinity.

The official groundbreaking ceremony is due to take place in

the coming weeks, it added.

A first floating regasification vessel (FSRU) arrived at

Stade for test operations earlier this month, which along with

three others working at Wilhelmshaven, Brunsbuettel and Lubmin

will be used for the regasification of LNG imports up until

2027.

Floating vessels were installed from 2022 when Russian gas

flows dried up quickly but were viewed as an interim solution

ahead of land-based facilities to provide a transition under

Germany's decarbonisation strategies.

Stade will be equipped to handle LNG, synthetic natural gas

and liquefied biomethane, later to be followed by ammonia, which

can be used as a carrier for hydrogen whose low density can make

transport complicated.

Czech utility CEZ, Germany's utility EnBW

and importer SEFE have committed themselves as buyers

of 90% Stade's annual volume capacity of 13.3 billion cubic

metres.

($1 = 0.9162 euros)