The participants in the project, including the Bulgarian state gas operator Bulgartransgaz (BTG) with an equal share of 20 percent, have been informed about a potential delay in the construction of the floating platform for the liquefied gas regasification terminal near the Greek city of Alexandroupolis. This happened during a visit to the shipyard of Keppel Corporation in Singapore, where the facility is being built, by the head of BTG and the executive directors of some of the other shareholders – the Greek gas transmission operator DESFA and the owner of the fleet of tankers “GazLog Cyprus Investment”, and on the hat – the project company and future operator “Gastrade”.
Somewhere measures to optimize the construction of the terminal’s floating platform were discussed, but Bulgartrangaz’s announcement does not specify what they are, nor what the looming delay is.
The facility was scheduled to be commissioned in the first quarter of next year.
This is important for Bulgaria, as the state supplier Bulgargas has a reserved capacity of 1 billion per year for a period of ten years after the terminal is operational. The company has announced a tender to secure supplies for this period of time, but the winner has not yet been announced, although almost a year has passed since the procedure was announced.
During the meeting in Singapore, the director of Bulgartransgaz, Vladimir Malinov, emphasized the need to speed up the construction of the floating platform in order to have the terminal ready as soon as possible. According to him, the commercial interest in the terminal in Alexandroupolis is increasingly high, which confirms the forecasts that the share of LNG supplies to European countries will continue to increase steadily in the coming years.
“The terminal in Alexandroupolis is of key importance for the security of energy supplies and guaranteeing competitive market conditions in the region. Our investment in the terminal is strategic and timely. The synergy provided with the expansion projects of the Chiren underground gas storage facility and the Bulgaria-Serbia interconnector is also important “, states Malinov, quoted in the press release.
Malinov also notes that Trakia LNG – the planned second LNG terminal of Gastrade, as well as other projects for new terminals in Greece, will further increase the interest in gas transmission through Bulgaria from south to north.
The “Alexandroupolis Independent Natural Gas System” has a design capacity for regasification of 5.5 billion m³/natural gas per year. The LNG storage capacity of the facility is 153,500 thousand m³. Among the potential sources of supply are countries producing liquefied natural gas such as the United States, Algeria, Qatar and others.
During his visit to Singapore, Malinov also participated in Gastech 2023 – a leading exhibition and conference in the field of natural gas, LNG, hydrogen and low-carbon solutions. Conference participants agreed that the role of natural gas in the energy transition is more important than ever, especially in terms of affordability, security and reliability. The future of energy markets, the place of hydrogen and new energy sources, and the innovations that will help achieve net carbon neutrality ambitions by 2050 were discussed.
