BERLIN, April 7 (Reuters) - Germany's liquefied natural

gas (LNG) terminal in the Baltic Sea port of Mukran operated at

5% capacity in the first quarter of 2025, an analysis showed on

Monday, amid ongoing local opposition and criticism over its

environmental impact and excess capacity.

Germany has been expanding its natural gas import options to

replace Russian pipeline supply and has deployed floating

storage and regasification units (FSRUs) at great speed, raising

concerns over overcapacity.

Utilisation of the Mukran LNG terminal dropped to 5% in the

first quarter from 14% a year earlier, when it was still

operating in Lubmin, a port town near the border with Poland,

according to German Environmental Aid (DUH) analysis of data by

Gas Infrastructure Europe.

This compares with 49% and 83% utilisation rates at North

Sea LNG terminals Wilhelmshaven and Brunsbuettel, operated by

state-owned Deutsche Energy Terminal GmbH (DET).

Marking its approval anniversary on April 9, DUH said the

terminal fed only 1.3 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas into the

grid last year, about 1.5% of Germany's total gas consumption.

"The Ruegen LNG terminal is not just a fossil dead end that

seriously threatens the climate and our future, it is a bad

investment that was foreseeable," Sascha Mueller-Kraenner, DUH

managing director, said in a statement.

The project has triggered local opposition from the resort

town of Binz, saying it was hurting tourism in one of top

tourist attractions for Germans and harming marine life, but

legal challenges have been thrown out.

Deutsche Regas, which operates the Mukran terminal, was not

immediately available for comment on the numbers.

In February, Deutsche Regas announced the termination of the

charter contract for Energos Power FSRU, citing competitive

disadvantages to terminals operated by DET.

On Friday, Deutsche Regas launched a bidding round for

long-term regasification capacity in Mukran, offering an

additional 5 bcm per year from 2027 to 2043.

It also said it plans to restart a second FSRU, aiming to

restore the terminal's full exit capacity of 13.5 bcm annually

by 2027.

Mukran's capacity was not adjusted by Deutsche Regas even

after the withdrawal of Energos Power, DUH said.