LNG

Venture Global and Greece’s Atlantic-SEE LNG Trade have doubled the volume under their long-term supply agreement, raising the commitment to at least 1 mtpa of US LNG starting in 2030 for a two-decade tenure.

Greek liquefied natural gas project leader Gastrade has said that delays were being experienced for the start-up of Greece’s Alexandroupolis floating LNG import hub to supply Balkan gas grids.

Registro Italiano Navale (RINA), the Italian maritime classification society, and the Italian Asprofos oil and gas design consultancy, have been awarded a contract to help manage the deployment of a floating LNG terminal being developed in eastern Greece to supply the Balkans region.

RINA, based in the port of Genoa, and Greek consultancy Asprofos, have secured a contract to provide project management consultancy (PMC) services for the Alexandroupolis Independent Natural Gas System (INGS) venture, controlled by the Greek Company Gastrade SA.

Main shareholders in Alexandroupolis FLNG project include Gastrade Chairwoman Elmina Copelouzou, Greek shipping company GasLog, Public Gas Corporation of Greece (DEPA) and the Bulgarian gas company Bulgartransgaz.

The project is aimed at increasing security and diversification of gas supplies in the whole region of Southeast Europe.

It will consist of a permanently moored floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and a pipeline system of 28 kilometres connecting the floating unit to the Greek National Natural Gas Transmission System (NNGTS).

The FSRU will be stationed in the north-eastern part of the Aegean Sea and about 17.6km from the costal Greek town of Alexandroupolis.

Vessel capacity

The GasLog vessel will have a storage capacity of 153,500 cubic metres, a nominal gas send out rate of 625,000 cubic metres per hour and a peak gas send-out rate of up to 944,000 m³ per hour.

A statement noted that the Alexandroupolis project is being financed through the joint venture’s own resources with co-financing from public funds, the National Bank of Greece and shareholder equity.

Public funds will be provided through the Greek Public Investment Programme, partly through national participation and partly through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

“This terminal is a fast-track project, with the FSRU scheduled to be online by the end of 2023,” said the contract winners.

“RINA and Asprofos will make sure that the contractual requirements of the project in terms of expected performance, quality, safety and planning are met,” they added.

“As well as supporting the owner on technical and managerial planning and oversight the two partners will act as an interface, through a multidisciplinary team of experts covering the different needs of the project,” they stated.

RINA view

Leonardo Brunori, Executive Vice President Energy at RINA, said the society was pleased to be involved in a project crucial to the security of European energy supplies.

“Recent events have highlighted the danger of relying on a single country for our energy needs. RINA has a long and proud track record of delivering FSRU and LNG projects globally having worked on over 200 in the last 15 years,” Brunori noted.

“We look forward to working together with Asprofos to deliver this strategically important terminal enabling Europe to further diversify access to energy,” he added.

Dionysios Belekoukias, Managing Director at Asprofos, said his firm was glad to be working with RINA on such an important project.

“We were awarded the contract because of our combined strong technical competencies. Over the last 35 years Asprofos has gained extensive experience in the natural gas sector having been involved in all phases of the majority of the National Natural Gas System of Greece, including the LNG Terminal in Revithoussa,” explained Belekoukias.

“We have also been actively involved in most of the natural gas projects which have been implemented or are under development in Greece such as Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the IGI Poseidon Pipeline, the East Med Pipeline, covering engineering, environmental, permitting, project management, construction management and supervision services,” he added.

GasLog LNG Ltd., the operator with a fleet 35 LNG carriers under its control and with four others under construction, reported a rise in revenues but a decline in first-quarter profits to $71.05 million compared with $84.24M in the prior-year quarter.

“The decrease in profit is mainly attributable to the decrease in profit from operations, which is mainly affected by an impairment loss,” said the company.

GasLog posted an increase in quarterly revenues to $213.72M compared with 205.32M in the same three months of 2021.

“The increase in revenues is mainly attributable to an increase from the deliveries of wholly-owned GasLog vessels. This increase was partially offset by decreased revenues mainly from GasLog Partners’ vessels operating in the spot market in the first quarter of 2022,” explained the Piraeus, Greece-based company.

Among the GasLog fleet of 39 LNG ships, 19 are owned by GasLog, five have been sold and leased back by GasLog under long-term and of the remaining 15 LNG carriers, 14 are owned by the company’s subsidiary, GasLog Partners, and one has been sold and leased back by GasLog Partners.

GasLog completed a merger in June 2021 with BlackRock’s Global Energy and Power Infrastructure (GEPIF) fund and de-listed its common shares from the New York Stock Exchange.

Ownership structure

GasLog’s ownership structure has three main shareholders in both companies, parent GasLog Ltd and subsidiary GasLog Partners LP.

They are the Greek Livanos family with 55 percent, the Monaco-based Onassis Foundation with 12 percent and BlackRock’s GEPIF, holder of 45 percent of the equity.

As of the end of March 2022, GasLog had $3.5 billion of debts outstanding under its credit facilities and bond agreements, of which $234.9M is repayable within one year.

Among first-quarter highlights, the Greek floating LNG terminal project including GasLog and led by the company Gastrade SA to deploy two Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs) off Greece, was making progress after a final investment decision.

Alexandroupolis

“GasLog, through its subsidiary GAS-fifteen Ltd., issued a final notice to proceed to Keppel Shipyard (Singapore) to convert the ‘GasLog Chelsea’, a 153,600 cubic metres tri-fuel, diesel-electric propulsion (TFDE) LNG carrier built in 2010, into an FSRU in connection with the FID taken by Gastrade for the construction of a regasification terminal in Alexandroupolis,” explained the company.

GasLog has entered into an agreement for the sale of the “GasLog Chelsea” to Gastrade for $265.1M, payable in instalments following its conversion to an FSRU expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2023.

GasLog noted that it also completed a sale and lease-back deal on the “GasLog Skagen”, a 155,000 cubic metres capacity TFDE LNG carrier built in 2013, with a wholly owned subsidiary of China Development Bank Leasing (CDBL).

This released $21.5M of incremental net liquidity to the Group. The vessel was sold and leased back under a charter with CDBL for a period of five years with no repurchase option or obligation.

“The vessel remains on its charter with Chevron Asia Pacific Shipping,” said GasLog.

Among new charter agreements in the first quarter, GasLog extended the time charter of the “GasLog Salem” with a wholly owned subsidiary of commodities firm Gunvor for an additional 12 months.

The company also signed a new one-year time charter party agreement for the “GasLog Singapore” with Singapore LNG Corp.

In another deal, subsidiary GasLog Partners LP signed a new multi-month time charter agreement for the “GasLog Sydney” with Spain-based utility Naturgy Energy.

Gastrade SA, the Greek company developing an offshore LNG import terminal to serve eastern Greece and the Balkan nations, has ratified an agreement with the Greek national gas grid operator DESFA taking a 20 percent stake in the project.

The final share transfer agreement was signed in Athens by the founding shareholder and Gastrade Board Chairwoman Elmina Copelouzou and the Chief Executive of DESFA, Maria Rita Galli.

The floating LNG terminal off the port city of Alexandroupolis is expected to be operational by early 2023.

The progress on the project came after the recent approval by the European Commission, based on the European Union merger regulations, for the acquisition of joint control of Gastrade and the Bulgarian gas grid company Bulgartransgaz.

“The construction of the Alexandroupolis terminal will actively contribute to the country's energy security, liquidity and efficiency and will strengthen Greece's strategic role in Southeast Europe, offering opportunities for new natural gas exports to the region,” said a joint statement.

“This is a crucial European project of common interest, a priority for the EU as it strengthens security and diversifies the sources and routes of energy supply,” the statement explained

“In addition, the project promotes competition among gas suppliers and supports the creation of a transaction hub in the wider region of Southeast Europe, leading to lower prices that will benefit all end-users,” it added.

Balkan benefits

The FSRU will be connected to the National Natural Gas Transmission System of Greece with a 28-kilometres pipeline, through which the regasified LNG will be offered to the markets of Greece, Bulgaria and the wider region, including Romania, Serbia and Νorth Macedonia, as well as Moldova and Ukraine.

“Another important step for the emergence of Greece and especially of Alexandroupolis as an energy hub for the Balkans and Europe has been made,” declared Gastrade’s Copelouzou.

“We welcome DESFA to Gastrade, being convinced that with our full shareholder structure, the project in Alexandroupolis will play a leading role in the green transition of European networks, while strengthening the security of energy supply for the benefit of national economies and citizens,” she stated.

DESFA CEO Galli said that under the agreement the Greek national gas company had become a Gastrade shareholder.

“The project will contribute significantly to energy security and to the upgrading of Greece's role in regional energy developments,” stated Galli.

“DESFA's long experience in the management of the LNG terminal of Revithoussa makes it a valuable partner with valuable know-how,” she added.

The Gastrade-led project will be based on a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with LNG storage capacity of 170,000 cubic metres and a natural gas supply capacity that will exceed 5.5 billion cubic metres per annum.

Oct 1 (LNGJ) - Russian pipeline natural gas supplier to Western Europe, Gazprom, has celebrated the 25th anniversary of its supply contract with European Union nation Greece, which is currently planning a floating LNG import project offshore the port of Alexandroupolis and has imported cargoes since 2000 to the existing onshore terminal at Revithoussa, west of Athens.

   “Over the past quarter of a century, Gazprom has exported upwards of 54 billion cubic metres of gas to this country and the annual amount of supplies has grown by more than 15 times,” said Gazprom. “All these years, the cooperation has relied on a long-term contract with the Greek operator DEPA. The contract, which was signed in 1988, is still in effect,” it added. “Gas from Russia is delivered via the TurkStream gas pipeline and the national gas transmission system of Bulgaria,” the Russians noted.

The natural gas transmission network of Bulgaria has completed its share participation transaction in the Alexandroupolis floating LNG import terminal proposed to supply the Balkans region with regasified volumes from offshore northeast Greece.

North Macedonia, previously a republic of the former Yugoslavia, said it would soon start construction of a natural gas pipeline interconnector to southern neighbour Greece to enable the import of US LNG cargoes via the floating import facility planned for offshore the Greek port of Alexandroupolis.

March 26 (LNGJ) - Greek LNG developer Gastrade said the binding phase of a market test for reservation of capacity at the floating LNG terminal proposed for offshore  Alexandroupolis in northeastern Greece was successfully completed. “With an aggregate long-term profile of binding offers for up to 15 years, reaching 2.6 billion cubic metres per year, Greek and international natural gas companies, as well as end-consumers, confirmed their interest in the reservation of regasification capacity at the FSRU terminal,” said Gastrade.

   LNG delivered to the terminal will be regasified and transmitted to the markets of Greece and the region via the Greek National Natural Gas Transmission System. Konstantinos Spyropoulos, Managing Director of Gastrade, said the process was a critical step towards “the enhancement of energy diversification and security of supply in Greece, the Balkans and the wider southeast European area”. 

Gastrade, a Greek utility company and developer of the Alexandroupolis floating LNG terminal, has launched the second phase of a market test for the project to gauge demand in Greece and the Balkan states.