Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry in Shanghai said it had completed the conversion work on the FSRU which will serve the first Cyprus LNG import terminal in Vasilikos and the yard expects to deliver the unit “soon”.
The unit of Cosco Shipping said in a statement that it held the sea trial ceremony on Wednesday for the 2002-built 137,000-cbm LNG vessel, Etyfa Prometheas, previously known as Galea.
Officials from Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry, China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering, ETYFA, LR, and others attended the ceremony.
“The sea trial of Galea converted into FSRU is a major milestone of the project, marking the completion of Galea conversion schedule,” it said.
After the completion of the sea trial, Galea will carry out the gas trial, renaming, and redelivery “soon”, Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry said.
Cyprus announced the start of construction of its first LNG import facility at Vassilikos in July 2020.
The Natural Gas Infrastructure Company (ETYFA), a unit of DEFA, previously signed an EPCOM (engineer, procure, construct, operate, and maintain) contract with a consortium for the project.
The consortium comprises of state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering, a unit of CNPC, Metron Energy Applications, Hudong-Zhonghua, and Wilhelmsen Ship Management.
Besides the converted FSRU, the project includes a jetty, a pipeline, and other onshore and offshore related infrastructure in Vasilikos.
From there, gas will be piped to shoreside infrastructure with links to the country’s energy grid mainly for power generation purposes.
ETYFA previously expected to launch the LNG import project for power generation in summer 2022, but the project has been delayed.
Recent local media reports suggest that the project worth some 315 million euros ($353 million) is now expected to be completed at the end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024.