Page 14 - GLNG Week 10 2023

GLNG EUROPE GLNG

Conversion work begins in Singapore

for Alexandroupolis FSRU

GREECE GREECE’S GasLog has delivered a vessel to the The project, deemed the Alexandroupolis
Keppel shipyard in Singapore for its conver- Independent Natural Gas System (INGS), is
It will be Greece’s sion into a floating storage and regasification expected to have a major impact on energy secu-
second LNG terminal. unit (FSRU). When ready later this year, the rity for Southeastern Europe, much of which has
vessel will be installed off the northern coast of previously been dependent upon Russian gas
Greece near the port city of Alexandroupolis, supplies. LNG delivered at Alexandroupolis will
where construction work on an LNG terminal be regasified and distributed throughout Greece
is underway. and also to Balkan countries and Eastern Europe
GasLog’s DNV-classed LNG carrier, Gaslog via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the
Chelsea, was renamed the FSRU Alexandroup- Interconnector-Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) pipeline.
olis in February and delivered to Keppel last The regasification capacity is expected to run at
month, where work is scheduled to be complete around 5.5bn cubic metres per year.
later this year, and then the vessel will be moved Greece has one LNG regasification terminal
to the northern Aegean Sea for installation by the at Revithoussa to the west of Athens. Alexan-
end of the year. droupolis INGS will be the country’s first FSRU.
The vessel was originally launched in 2010 as The owner and operator of the project is Ath-
the STX Frontier and became the Gaslong Chel- ens-based Gastrade, with the following share-
sea in 2013. It has a capacity of 153,600 cubic holders: Copelouzos Group (20%); GasLog
metres and is 86,353 dwt. The FSRU will be Cyprus Investments (20%); DEPA Commercial
equipped with a subsea and onshore gas trans- (20%); Bulgartransgaz (20%); DESFA (20%).
mission system, enabling it to transfer LNG at The cost of the project is put at €360mn and
a rate of 10,000 cubic metres per hour. Work is financing has been arranged in the form of a
being supervised by DNV Maritime. The FSRU grant for €592,419 for the EU’s Connecting
will be anchored some 28 km off the coast and Europe Facility; a €166.7mn grant from the
linked via a subsea pipeline and onshore infra- European Structural and Investment Funds;
structure that will connect with Greece’s national and three bond issues amounting to €283mn
natural gas transmission system. arranged by the National Bank of Greece. ™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 09•March•2023