A new challenger has emerged as a potential floating storage and regasification unit partner for the consortium selected to develop the $2bn Java-1 independent power project in Indonesia.

Industry sources say Japanese shipowner MOL is making a play to become involved in providing the FSRU for the project. Company officials did not respond to a request for confirmation on this.

Belgian owner Exmar was originally selected as the shipowning entity in the consortium of Indonesian energy company Pertamina, Japan’s Sojitz Corp and Marubeni — which work together as Jawa Satu Power (JSP) and are developing the 1,600-MW gas-turbine, combined-cycle Java-1.

This month, Exmar, which has been battling financial headwinds, appeared to strengthen its arm on the Java-1 project by teaming up with a local partner.

The company announced it had signed an agreement with Indonesian shipowner Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi to work together on FSRU business. The two owners said they would form a joint venture on the FSRU for Java-1.

Last week, an announcement from South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) confused some LNG industry players, who were expecting to hear news of a final investment decision (FID) on the project before the FSRU order was placed.

SHI said it had won a KRW 250bn ($221m) order from a Japanese-led consortium to supply a 170,000-cbm FSRU to an Indonesian power plant project. But no ownership structure was announced for the FSRU.

It has since emerged that a newbuilding contract has still to be inked but is ready to be put in place as soon as the shipowning structure has been agreed.

Under a power purchase agreement signed at the start of this year, JSP is contracted on a build-own-operate-transfer basis to handle the Java-1 plant for Indonesian power provider PLN.

Eleven consortia originally bid for the project, with each including an existing FSRU provider.

The FSRU element is just one relatively small aspect of what will become Indonesia’s largest power-plant development.

But, unusually in today’s climate of shorter charter contracts, the regas unit will be backed by a 25-year charter.

The original schedule outlined a plant start-up in 2019, with the FSRU due for delivery six months in advance of this, although observers expect timelines to slide.

A FID on Java-1 is expected before the end of the year, although Asian energy industry commentators say the project is linked to domestic political fortunes.

BP has agreed sale-and-purchase agreements to supply LNG from its Tangguh LNG project in Indonesia’s Papua province to PLN for the power plant in Cibatu Baru, West Java, from 2020.