Filenews 11 April 2023 - by Chrysanthos Manoli
The Cyprus floating liquefied natural gas storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Prometheus is likely to be exploited by ETYFA and the Republic of Cyprus for a few months for the regasification of natural gas at a European LNG terminal, until the operation of the terminal in Vasilikos is possible.
This is deduced from yesterday's statements by the Minister of Energy on the morning show of Politis Radio and Katerina Eliades. When the minister said at one point that when the Prometheus FSRU is delivered in July to the state-owned ETYFA by Cosco (which converted it from an LNG carrier to a regasification plant) and CPP (the Chinese state-owned company that builds the terminal), it will be transferred to European infrastructure so that the country can acquire its ownership in practice (it is already enshrined in relevant contracts). Upon hearing this report, a listener asked the minister "and how much will it cost us to park Prometheus?" and George Papanastasiou replied "I did not talk about parakrisma".
He then hinted that efforts will be made so that the Cyprus FSRU, when delivered to us in July, will be leased to a company, public or private, in another European country and used for the production of de-hydrogas. He clarified that Prometheus will not be used as an LNG carrier.
The minister also said that due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the drastic reduction of Russian gas ending up in European markets, LNG and by extension the infrastructure that converts liquefied gas back into gas has become sought after (and very expensive). It follows that the Government estimates that if Prometheus is leased to a company that operates an LNG terminal until the pier in Vasilikos is ready to host it safely, ETYFA and the Republic will secure a very good income (a few tens of millions), which can be used for other uses.
In the European and international market there is indeed a high demand for FSRU floating units, with very high usage - rental fees.
The pier...
But when will the pier that CPP should have already delivered to ETYFA be ready? It seems that the news on this aspect is not good and will probably continue to be bad for months.
As Phileleftheros wrote in Saturday's edition, a Chinese delegation informed Papanastasiou on Friday that the pier will not be ready even in October 2023, as he reportedly promised 2-3 months ago to the previous government. The minister said that at Friday's meeting CPP reserved the right to mention a new timetable for the delivery of the project.
Yesterday, however, the minister told Politis that he estimates that the pier will be operational towards the end of the first quarter of 2024 or in the second quarter of the year. This means that the Cyprus FSRU "will have no business to do in Cyprus" for about 8 to 12 months, under the best conditions.
It should also be noted that while the contract signed by ETYFA with CPP provided for the utilization of the Greek company Metron Energy Applications S.A as a subcontractor (for the construction of the pier and some land infrastructure), ultimately this company does not participate for the time being in the execution of the works in Vasilikos, according to information provided by "F". except CPP personnel, who do not seem to have substantial experience in the construction of such port facilities. Our information indicates that CPP had previously requested to change the corporate composition of the joint venture, but the request was rejected by ETYFA.
There's a lot of work to do
It should be noted that in Vasilikos not only the construction of the pier is pending, but also land infrastructure, mainly meters and pipelines for the transport of gas from the FSRU to land and from there to the EAC station in Vasilikos and at some point to the PEC station (of the Cyfield group) which is expected to be completed on an adjacent block.
Among other things, the construction of mooring facilities, a pipeline on the pier, unloading arms, an onshore pipeline up to the border of the Vasilikos power station, ground installations next to the point of delivery of natural gas and a gas storage system are pending, to increase inertia, for security of supply (buffer).
