Energy minister due in China to receive LNG vessel

Reports on Friday night confirmed that developments are underway into the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Vasilikos, spearheaded by a Chinese-led consortium, with the energy minister due in China within September.

The Cyprus Mail had reported on Thursday that a new timetable for the project had been requested for July 2024, confirmed by a CyBC report on Friday.

The Cyprus Mail further reported that the floating, storage and regasification unit (Fsru) vessel recently underwent a sea trial, confirmed on Friday by a China National Petroleum Company (CNPC) post on X.

It stated that “the Cyprus LNG terminal project’s FSRU Etyfa Prometheas ship, managed by CNPC CPP, completed its debut three-day sea trial mission”.

CyBC added that the vessel is to be ready by September as Energy Minister George Papanastasiou is to travel to China to officially receive the ship – dubbed ‘Etyfa Promitheas’.

The entire project has been costed at around €300 million. It has secured a €101 million grant from the EU under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) financial instrument. The rest of the financing comes from the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The LNG terminal will include a floating, storage and regasification unit (Fsru), a jetty for mooring it, a jetty-borne gas pipeline and related infrastructure.

The Fsru – the purpose-built vessel that will convert imported LNG into gaseous form so that it can be fed into the Vasilikos power station to generate electricity – had until recently presented the biggest stumbling block.

It was way back in December 2019 when Cyprus signed the contract with the consortium. Since then, the contractor has submitted four delivery timetables – September 2022, July 2023, October 2023 and now July 2024.

In February of this year the government approved the contractor’s request for a further increase in the price by €25 million due to the rise in the prices of materials. The government in turn is claiming compensation from the contractor for the delays in completing the project.