A floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) has arrived off the coast of El Salvador with a cargo that will help commission the country's first LNG import project.
The 134,425-cbm BW Tatiana (ex-Gallina, built 2002) arrived off the Port of Acajutla with a part cargo of LNG loaded in South Korea.
Eikland Energy data service iGIS/LNG shows the vessel visited South Korea's Gwangyang on 18 to 20 September, later calling at the country's Samcheok facility on 27 to 28 of that month to take on reload volumes.
The vessel's draught suggests the FSRU is carrying around 50,000 cbm of LNG, which an observer said would be sufficient for cooldown operations at Acajutla.
Central Americas first
The BW LNG-controlled FSRU is to serve as the import terminal for the 378-MW Energia del Pacifico (EDP) power project, which is being developed by Invenergy in partnership with Quantum.
It will be Central America's first FSRU and will be held in a 50:50 joint venture between the BW Group subsidiary and Invenergy.
Shell has been contracted to supply the LNG to the project.
Commercial operations are scheduled to start at the end of 2021.
The Moss-type BW Tatiana was built as one of Shell's G-class LNG carriers. It underwent its conversion into a regasification unit at Singapore’s Keppel Tuas shipyard and is the second LNG carrier to FSRU undertaken by BW LNG.
The project developers deliberately selected a Moss ship to avoid potential cargo sloshing issues, which could prove a problem due to the exposed nature of the site where the FSRU will be located.
The EDP project is expected to meet 30% of El Salvador’s energy demand.
