Greece is backing the construction of Motor Oil’s planned Dioriga Gas FSRU project near Corinth worth about 340 million euros ($369 million).
According to a statement by Greece’s Ministry of Development and Investment, the Interministerial Committee for Strategic Investments approved the project on January 27.
Greece’s Motor Oil said in a strategy presentation posted on its website in November that it planned to take a final investment decision on the project in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The terminal would be located about 70 km from Athens, in the area of Agioi Theodori, near Motor Oil’s refinery.
It would have a maximum storage capacity of up to 210,000 cbm and it would connect to a jetty about 150 meters from the coast.
The “hydrogen-ready” project would have a peak regasification capacity of 490,000 Nm3/h or 132 GWs/d and would benefit from existing infrastructure and access to the national gas pipeline in proximity to the Corinth refinery, Motor Oil said.
In May last year, Motor Oil revealed plans to import LNG in the future from UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) via its planned Dioriga Gas FSRU.
Prior to that, Dioriga Gas, a unit of Motor Oil, said that fifteen firms had shown interest in booking capacity at the FSRU-based import project, following a non-binding market test.
Binding expression of interest
Dioriga Gas had invited firms on October 30 to submit binding offers for capacity booking.
The LNG terminal developer previously set the deadline for December 15, 2022.
However, the company said in a statement posted on it website on December 9 that it had extended the deadline due to “the increased market interest.”
The new deadline for submission of binding offers ended on January 25, 2023.
Greek LNG imports
Greek liquefied natural gas imports via the Revithoussa terminal surged to record 78 LNG cargoes in 2022 due to significantly higher volumes from the US, according to DESFA.
The Revithoussa terminal is currently the only LNG import facility in Greece but the country will get new LNG import facilities as European countries look to boost energy security and replace Russian pipeline gas.
Greece’s Gastrade officially started building the country’s first FSRU-based project in Alexandroupolis in May last year and is planning another similar project.
Besides these projects and the Dioriga Gas FSRU, there are also plans for other such facilities in Greece.