Page 8 - GLNG Week 28
P. 8
GLNG EuRoPE GLNG
Cyprus narrows down FSRU bidders
inVEstmEnt
CYPRUS has chosen three groups to compete to provide the FSRU and related infrastructure for the import of LNG. e Natural Gas Public Company of Cyprus (DEFA) announced the three groups on July 12.
The first group includes China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co. (CPPEC), Aktor and Metron. e second group consists of Samsung C&T, Posco E&C, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Osaka Gas. e third comprises Damco Energy, Enagas Services Solution, GasLog LNG Services, SNAM and TERNA.
DEFA’s chairman, Symeon Kassianides, said this was the rst successful step towards “the realisation of a long-term project that is directly linked to the country’s energy upgrade and energy pluralism in Cyprus”. He also welcomed the international interest in the project.
DEFA is working to create a functioning gas market in Cyprus, to secure reliable supplies. Initially this would go to power generation, but could be expanded in future to industries, hotels and bunkering, the statement said, “at the lowest possible cost and with [minimal] environmental impact”.
e terminal should be completed in 2021. It will involve an FSRU, a jetty to which the vessel would be moored and a gas pipeline. Costs are estimated to be €250mn ($276mn), of which the European Union is providing up to €101mn ($116mn). e EU has the goal of improving the energy security of all its member states.
Cyprus engaged Gaffney Cline & Associ- ates at the end of 2016 to work on LNG supply options. The country had looked into LNG imports in 2007 but legal changes the following year e ectively barred private companies from the gas market. As a result of various wranglings, Cyprus has continued to burn oil products in order to generate power.
A number of gas discoveries have been made o shore Cyprus, including the Aphrodite eld in Block 12. e Cypriot market may be too small to allow such a eld to be developed for local consumption, though, with the gas likely to be exported via subsea pipeline to Egypt and then lique ed.
Encouraged by these discoveries, Turkey has begun drilling in what are widely acknowl- edged as Cypriot waters. is has triggered pro- tests from Cyprus and the EU, but Ankara has persisted.
Russia considers Arctic LNG-2 funding
PoliCy
THE Russian government is yet to decide on a means of nancing construction of a RUB100bn ($1.6bn) port to serve the Arctic LNG-2 project.
A project committee met on July 1 to discuss funding options for the port of Utrenny, which will be built on the western coast of the Gydan Peninsula, Moscow business daily Kommersant reported last week.
According to a copy of the meeting’s minutes, the nance ministry has called for funding to come solely from a national infrastructure fund, set to receive RUB2.3tn ($36bn) from the federal budget over the next ve years. Transport Min- ister and Deputy PM Maxim Akimov, however, wants additional nancing to be drawn from beyond this fund.
Rosatom, which has been put in charge of the port’s development, has estimated project costs at RUB33bn in 2020, RUB33.8bn in 2021 and RUB33bn in 2022.
The port will support operations at the 19.8mn tonne per year Arctic LNG-2 export
terminal, due to start up in either 2022 or 2023, while also handling general cargo trade along Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR).
In related news Mordaga, a Russian subsid- iary of Belgium’s DEME Group, was reported last week as having won a contract for dredging work this year in the waters of the Gulf of Ob surrounding the port’s planned location.
Arctic LNG-2 is operated by Russia’s Novatek, which also owns the nearby 17.4mn tpy Yamal LNG terminal that was commissioned in late 2017. e company has brought on board sev- eral partners to provide nancing and expertise to implement the project.
France’s Total now has a 10% stake in the venture, while China’s CNPC and CNOOC have agreed to share 20% and Japan’s JOGMEC and Mitsui together to take 10%. Total, which is also a minority shareholder in Novatek, will be able to claim an additional 5% of Arctic LNG-2 if Novatek decides to reduce its ownership below 60%.
P8
w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 28 17•July•2019
