A consortium of Chinese companies alongside Wilhelmsen Ship Management has been selected to provide Cyprus’ first ever LNG FSRU.
Partners for the project comprise China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Co and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding along with Greek companies Aktor SA and Metron SA.
Hudong, a subsidiary of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), China’s largest shipbuilding group, is China’s largest builder of LNG carriers, with a capacity for six to eight ships in its yard.
“If and when the contract is formally signed, Wilhelmsen Ship Management will manage the FSRU and be responsible for operation and maintenance," chief executive Carl Schou told TradeWinds.
"We were selected to participate in the consortium due to our track record in the LNG segment. In the last five years, we have managed a total of seven LNG FSRUs.”
The decision was described as the outcome of a “lengthy and complex tender process” overseen by the Natural Gas Public Company of Cyprus (DEFA).
The selected consortium is said to have had to “satisfy a series of qualitative, quantitative and financial criteria”, so as to be able to demonstrate an “ability to perform at the high standards” regarding the development of the Cyprus natural gas market infrastructure.
Two other consortiums bid for the project including a joint Japanese-Korean group comprised of Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) as well as Samsung C&T, Posco E&C and Japanese utility Osaka Gas.
The third consortium was European and was made up of Peter Livanos-backed GasLog, Spanish utility Enagas and Italian gas infrastructure company SNAM.
“We are pleased to see the successful outcome of the process,” DEFA chairman Dr Symeon Kassianides said in a statement.
“Here at DEFA we believe that the future of the country is aligned with natural gas and we expect it to play a major role in the economic development of the country in years to come.
“The establishment of the natural gas market will boost the development of the whole energy and industry sectors of the republic.”
Cyprus aims to have the FSRU vessel in place and importing LNG by 2021, according to the tender document issued by DEFA.
The project, which has been dubbed CyprusGas2EU, secured a EUR 101m ($117m) grant from the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility in January.
It is designed to help diversify the country’s energy mix and speed the switch from heavy fuel oil to gas for power generation in a bid to reach new emissions targets.
DEFA, which has said the EU grant will fund 40% of the project, is also considering other related uses for the terminal, including LNG bunkering, trucking and regional supply.
In addition to the FSRU, the LNG terminal project also calls for a jetty for mooring the FSRU, a jetty borne gas pipeline and related infrastructure.
