Initial offers have been sent in by shipowners competing to win the job of providing a new floating storage and regasification unit to Poland.
First bids went in on 25 August to Poland’s gas transmission operator Gaz-System. Full commercial offers are due by 19 September.
Those following the process closely said shipbuilders are struggling to come up with berth slots that fit the 2027 deadline specified by Gaz-System.
The Polish company has asked for the FSRU to be delivered by August 2027 so that it can be put into commercial operation at the start of 2028.
South Korean shipbuilders Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean are believed to be offering berths for the business.
TradeWinds reported earlier in August that yards were looking at a requirement for a 170,000-cbm to 180,000-cbm FSRU, which Gaz-System is planning to locate in Gdansk Bay in northern Poland.
Gaz-System is also believed to have engaged with companies that have existing FSRU tonnage or LNG carrier conversion candidates that would make a suitable regas unit, as the operator looks to fulfil its requirement on schedule.
Yard prices are holding firm for LNG carrier tonnage at over the $260m mark and yards will demand a hefty premium for an FSRU.
In October, Excelerate Energy contracted a single 170,000-cbm unit at HHI, priced at around $337m. The company recently indicated in its results webcast that it is making the expansion of its fleet a “top priority”.
The saga of Poland’s planned FSRU — like many regas projects — has been ongoing for several years.
The plan was initially floated in 2016 as the country neared the end of long-term pipeline gas contracts with Russia and looked to diversify its supply.
Poland — which has one existing land-based LNG import facility, the President Lech Kaczynski LNG Terminal in Swinoujscie — was quick off the blocks signing up to US LNG and eight chartered-in LNG carriers.
The process for the FSRU finally started moving in 2019, with the aim of seeing a unit in operation by 2022.
An open season procedure for the unit’s regasification capacity in 2021 resulted in a binding offer for 100% of this being booked. In June, offers were requested on a Phase 2 expansion.
Gaz-System has said the FSRU would have capacity to provide 6.1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per annum, depending on the market growth and requirement from Poland and the wider region.
Gaz-System is expanding its Swinoujscie terminal’s capacity from 5.0 bcm to 8.3 bcm.
