The 2009-built 145,000-cbm, FSRU Neptune, has left Germany’s industrial port of Lubmin and is expected to arrive in Mukran in a “few weeks” to start serving the facility on the island of Rügen, according to Deutsche ReGas.
The unit, which is 50 percent owned by Hoegh LNG and sub-chartered by Deutsche ReGas from TotalEnergies, was on Saturday towed from Lubmin to Nordperd anchorage offshore Rügen.
From there, the FSRU will head in a “few days” to a European shipyard, where the necessary refitting work will be carried out prior to its deployment at the new “Deutsche Ostsee” terminal in the industrial port of Mukran, Deutsche ReGas said in a statement.
Deutsche ReGas officially launched its Lubmin FSRU-based LNG import terminal, first private LNG terminal in Germany, in January last year.
Besides Neptune, the project included the 137,814-cbm LNG carrier Seapeak Hispania which served as a floating storage unit for the project.
The firm also chartered three small LNG carriers from Anthony Veder to transport LNG from the FSU Seapeak Hispania to the FSRU due to draft restrictions in Lubmin.
Deutsche ReGas recently said it has terminated the LNG shuttle service in the Greifswald Bodden as planned.
During the operation of the LNG terminal in Lubmin, Deutsche ReGas carried out 480 ship-to-ship transfers without incidents and demonstrated its ability to supply about 1.3 million households per year, the German firm led by Ingo Wagner and Stephan Knabe said.
Mukran LNG terminal
Following completion of refitting work at the yard, the FSRU is is expected to arrive in a “few weeks” at the industrial port in Mukran, Deutsche ReGas said.
In Mukran, Neptune will work along the 2021-built 174,000-cbm, Energos Power, as part of the second phase of its FSRU-based LNG terminal with a capacity of up to 13.5 bcm per year.
Deutsche ReGas recently received an operating permit for the FSRU-based LNG import facility in Mukran.
In March, Deutsche ReGas received the first LNG tanker as part of the commissioning phase.
The 2015-built 161,870-cbm, Maran Gas Alexandria, owned by Greece’s Maran Gas and Qatar’s Nakilat, delivered the cargo from from Equinor’s Hammerfest LNG export plant in Norway to Energos Power.
In June last year, Deutsche ReGas signed a deal with the German government to sub-charter the FSRU delivered in 2021 by Hudong-Zhonghua and owned by US-based Energos Infrastructure.
Deutsche ReGas took over the charter of Energos Power in October last year.