Gastrade to begin gradual restart of Alexandroupolis FSRU in May

In January, Gastrade suspended regasification services due to a technical issue.

The Greek company first announced the unavailability of regasification services on January 23, and one day after that, it said that the “Alexandroupolis LNG terminal has resumed regasification services with a maximum estimated available regasification capacity of 31,300,000 kWh/d.”

However, the company announced in a statement on January 28 that the regasification services will not be available until further notice.

“The Alexandroupolis LNG terminal is anticipated to resume operations at full capacity by the start of the next gas year,” the Gastrade spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The gas year begins on October 1.

“This ramp-up could start gradually as early as late May,” the spokeswoman said.

“In the meantime, regasification services remain suspended until further notice,” she added.

The spokeswoman did not provide further information.

LNG shipments

As previously reported by LNG Prime, UK-based energy giant BP supplied an LNG cargo to Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz via the Alexandroupolis FSRU in January.

The 2021-built 174,000-cbm, BW Lesmes, delivered the shipment from the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas to the 153,500-cbm FSRU, Alexandroupolis, on January 19.

In November last year, Bulgargaz picked UK-based BP Gas Marketing, a unit of BP, and US-based Venture Global Commodities to supply two spot LNG cargoes via the Alexandrouplis FSRU-based terminal in January and February this year.

This new delivery by BP marked the fourth commercial LNG delivery to the FSRU-based facility in Alexandrouplis.

Gastrade’s FSRU received its first commercial LNG shipment from Equinor’s Hammerfest LNG terminal in Norway on October 3, 2024.

This shipment was supplied to Bulgargaz by French energy giant TotalEnergies.

In addition, Total Energies also supplied Bulgargaz with one LNG shipment in November and the other in December.

The November LNG cargo was sourced from Sempra’s Cameron LNG terminal in Louisiana, while the December cargo arrived from Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana.

Gastrade’s shareholders include founder Copelouzou, DESFA, DEPA, Bulgartransgaz, and GasLog.

This is Greece’s first FSRU and the second LNG import terminal, adding to DESFA’s Revithoussa LNG terminal.

The Alexandroupolis LNG terminal has a capacity of up to 5.5 bcm per year, or some 66.3 TWh per year.