The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Prometheas, which will form part of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) project at Vasiliko, is expected to sail for Cyprus from Shanghai any day now, Energy Minister George Papanastasiou said on Tuesday.

Papanastasiou was answering questions from journalists at the House when he said there would be news shortly.

“We expect in the coming days, perhaps even within the week, to hear about the departure of the Prometheus,” he said, adding that the final processes were being carried out for the ship to set sail.

The minister said the details were many and varied in terms of what still needed to be done.

“Suddenly the Republic of Cyprus is becoming a shipowner,” Papanastasiou said.

“You understand that being a shipowner for a vessel that has to sail from Shanghai is not a simple process.”

Crew would need to be brought on board, fuel would need to be calculated to get to a destination, there would be a matter of supplying other components for the journey, “so you understand that there are many details that are will be resolved in the coming days.”

Responding to questions, he said that he could not yet indicate the destination for the Prometheus.

This was still under consultation and the destination would have to have certain criteria such as an ability to carry out repairs on an FRSU if necessary plus other criteria that can help get the vessel certified as a floating gas unit.

The ship cannot sail to Cyprus because the jetty at Vasiliko will not be finished until the end of the year, the minister said. In the meantime, there was also a possibility the Prometheus could be leased out once certified as leaving it docked and unused was not an option

“We estimate that – and it is an optimistic goal – that by the end of 2025 the terminal will have been completed so that Prometheus can begin gasification,” Papanastasiou said.

Asked about leasing the ship in the meantime, he said that for this option, because the Prometheus involves European financiers and two European banks, their consent would be required.

“Consultations are being held in all directions,” Papanastasiou said. “The ship can be used until the infrastructure in Vasiliko is ready.

“The ship cannot remain unused until the end of 2025. These ships have certain mechanisms that could deteriorate depending on the marine environment at anchorage, which could create serious problems,” the minister said.

At the moment, Cyprus is looking at two countries as options for leasing, Greece and the United Arab Emirates “but at the same time, alternatives are being considered because the two destinations still do not meet all of the criteria,” Papanastasiou said.

The FSRU is one of a number of moving parts of the Vasuliko energy project, with public natural gas infrastructure company Etyfa set to select a new project manager for the project’s onshore infrastructure.

The project manager will then assist Etyfa in drafting tender documents for the contracts for the remaining works at Vasiliko after CMC in July terminated its contract with Etyfa to build the whole LNG terminal.

It had accused Etyfa of “bullying” and of leaving CMC to work “without proper or timely payments” for years.

The FSRU had been one of the key points of contention between Etyfa and CMC, with the latter insisting that the vessel was ready in Shanghai and that Etyfa had “inexplicably refused to take delivery” of it while also frequently not meeting payment deadlines.

The situation worsened after the contract was terminated when the European Commission demanded that Cyprus repay almost €69 million which had been paid in grants for the terminal.

The European public prosecutor’s office (EPPO) had earlier in the same month publicly announced the opening of an investigation into possible procurement fraud, misappropriation of EU funds and corruption related to the Vasiliko LNG terminal.

Cyprus signed the contract for the LNG project in December 2019. The entire project should have taken 22 months to complete.