Greece’s Gastrade said that the arrival of the commissioning cargo at its FSRU-based LNG import terminal off Alexandroupolis had been postponed due to bad weather.
“There has been a rescheduling of the commissioning cargo because of some minor delays due to unsuitable weather conditions,” Gastrade told LNG Prime in emailed comments on Monday.
“We will advise on the new commissioning cargo arrival day shortly,” the company said.
Gastrade did not provide additional information.
Earlier this month, Gastrade said it had expected to receive on January 20 the commissioning cargo.
The firm launched a tender on October 31 for the supply of the commissioning cargo and relevant services. It extended the deadline for two times and the second deadline extension ended on December 15.
Gastrade did not say who won the tender for the commissioning cargo.
The company’s shareholders include founder Copelouzou, DESFA, DEPA, Bulgartransgaz, and GasLog.
Shareholder and Greek LNG shipping firm GasLog told Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine, now Seatrium, in February 2022 to proceed with the conversion of the 2010-built, GasLog Chelsea, to an FSRU.
Seatrium’s yard in Singapore completed the conversion work on the 153,600-cbm Alexandroupolis in November last year.
FSRU arrived in December
Greece’s first FSRU arrived in Alexandroupolis from Singapore on December 17 and mooring hook-up was completed on December 23, 2023, according to Gastrade.
The first FSRU is located in the sea of Thrace at a distance of 17.6 km SW from the port of Alexandroupolis and 10 km from the nearest coast of Makri. Also, it will be connected to a high-pressure subsea and onshore gas transmission pipeline.
Once operational, the pipeline will deliver natural gas to the Greek transmission system and onwards to the final consumers in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia and further to Moldova and Ukraine to the East and Hungary and Slovakia to the West, Gastrade said.
The Alexandroupolis LNG terminal will have a capacity of 5.5 Bcm.
With this project, Greece will get its first FSRU and the second LNG import facility, adding to DESFA’s import terminal located on the island of Revithoussa.
In addition to this unit, Gastrade is also planning to install a second FSRU offshore Alexandroupolis.