Strong partners for 30 years

Gas from Norway as a guarantee for energy supplies

Even now as the energy system is in the middle of a transformation to carbon neutrality, the reliable supply of natural gas remains a key building block for the prosperity of German society and the competitiveness of German industry. For 30 years, VNG enjoyed a reliable economic partnership with companies from Norway as part of its diversified procurement strategy. 

VNG established its first contacts with the Norwegian Royal Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and the state-owned company Statoil in the early summer of 1990. And the initiative paid off: On 16 December 1993 - exactly 30 years ago - VNG signed the first gas trade agreement with the Norwegian gas negotiating committee GFU, chaired by Statoil and the companies Norsk Hydro and Saga Petroleum. Since the start of this commercial relationship, the Norwegian partners have supplied around 72 billion cubic metres of natural gas to VNG. The value of this long-standing relationship was confirmed once again during the recent energy crisis, in which Norway became VNG’s most important energy supplier. The large Norwegian natural gas reserves in the North Sea and the North Atlantic therefore play a crucial role in enabling VNG to fulfil a core objective of its business model: the reliable supply of gas to its own end customers.

Together towards a climate-friendly future

The energy market in Germany is changing: The transformation to a climate-neutral energy system based on renewable energies and green and decarbonised gases such as hydrogen in particular has long been underway. VNG following this path in close co-operation with its Norwegian partners. The focus is on hydrogen and its hydrogen-rich derivative ammonia. Several projects are already underway: 

• In partnership with Equinor, a 1 GW reformer for the production of decarbonised hydrogen from natural gas is being built in Rostock. Planned generation capacity by 2030: 230,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year. 
• VNG has signed a letter of intent with its partner Aker Horizons to transport up to 200,000 tonnes of green ammonia per year from northern Norway to Germany from 2028. The ammonia is produced at a plant in Narvik, Norway. 
• In cooperation with its Norwegian partner Horisont Energie, VNG plans to purchase 100,000 to 300,000 tonnes of blue ammonia per year from the Barents Blue project in Hammerfest from 2028.
• VNG is also currently negotiating a supply agreement for climate-friendly ammonia with Yara Clean Ammonia (YARA). Under the plans, the port of Rostock is to become a hub for the import of climate-friendly ammonia to eastern Germany.

Exploration venture

In 2006, VNG got in the business of exploration and production of natural gas and crude oil with Norwegian partners. In the context of this venture, our subsidiary VNG Norge AS was to develop natural gas volumes for supplying its customers from its own sources. The new business segment has proved very successful with a major oil and gas discovery and the securing of a total of 34 production licences. Nevertheless, the decision to exit this capital-intensive business segment was made in 2018 as part of VNG’s strategic realignment via VNG 2030+. This freed up resources for greater investments in the area of green gases.