Qatar’s PowerGlobe is pursuing plans to install a $400m LNG-to-power unit at a Greek port as it lines up import capacity across Europe.

A PowerGlobe spokesman told TradeWinds that the trading company, which is part of Qatar’s Al Faisal Holding, will install a floating storage regasification and power generation barge (FSRP) at Volos on the eastern Greek mainland to the north of Athens.

He said the 250-metre FSRP would have 180,000 cbm of LNG storage, on-board regasification and 300MW of combined-cycle power generation capacity.

It would be operated by Spanish regasification and transmission company Reganosa and owned by a consortium that would include PowerGlobe.

The unit has not yet been built, but the Qatari company plans to have it in operation by early 2023.

The spokesman said PowerGlobe is working with local authorities in Greece to secure licences for an independent natural gas system, power generation and power supply.

The FSRP is just one part of ­PowerGlobe’s ambitions for LNG in the European market.

Long-term charter

The port of Volos, where PowerGlobe wants to install a $400m LNG-to power unit. Photo: pxfuel

It had planned to ship in 13 to 15 cargoes per annum over the next three years, but the spokesman said the FSRP would double these numbers.

PowerGlobe has already secured access at the upcoming floating storage and regasification unit-based terminal off Croatia’s Krk Island in the northern Adriatic Sea.

Last month, the trader announced it was seeking an LNG carrier to take on long-term charter to cover the cargoes it wants to ship into Krk when it starts up early next year.

The spokesman said the company had received a large response from shipowners interested in ­supplying a vessel.

PowerGlobe has booked capacity at the new Croatian facility equal to 468m cbm per year over a 15-year period.

Major terminals across Europe

The Golar Viking is being converted to an FSRU for the Krk Island project in Croatia. Photo: Ian Shiffman/MarineTraffic

Golar Power is converting its 140,000-cbm LNG carrier Golar Viking (built 2005) into the FSRU for this project. The regas unit is due on site by the end of October and the facility is scheduled to be in operation by January.

Aside from the Croatia facility and the planned FSRP at Volos, the PowerGlobe spokesman said the company is booking future regasification capacity at major LNG terminals in Greece, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

It is booking capacity at Greece’s existing Revithoussa terminal for five years, with deliveries to start from mid-January.

Access at other facilities remains under discussion and will depend on availability, but will probably be on the basis of either standard annual capacity or non-standard and unregulated LNG deliveries.

“The company targets ... 3.6bn cubic metres annual capacity by 2023,” the spokesman said, adding that it has plans for LNG-to-power developments, underground natural gas storage facilities for efficient LNG supply and natural gas trading.

He said the company will draw on a wide LNG supply portfolio in Africa, the US and Qatar.

PowerGlobe is headquartered in Qatar, with offices in Greece and Singapore. Mohammed Al Thani is chairman of the company and the larger entity in which it sits, Optimized Holding. He is also vice chairman of parent company Al Faisal Holding.

The company began LNG trading three years ago as part of the large-scale energy optimisation project within the parent group.