Gastrade moves on FLNG start-up project while Balkan gas grids expect July market capacity allocation tests
A cooperation agreement has been signed between key natural gas infrastructure owners from Greece, the Balkans and Central Europe including Gastrade, developer of the Alexandroupolis floating LNG import terminal for Greece and the Balkans.
Seatrium of Singapore makes second big LNG hand-over of November with the Greek FSRU for Balkan gas hub
Seatrium Group of Singapore, formerly called Sembcorp Marine Ltd and renamed as Seatrium following its merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine, has made the successful delivery and hand-over of the Greek “FSRU Alexandroupoli” to be deployed offshore northeast Greece as part of a Balkans LNG supply hub.
Bulgaria and Serbia advance Balkan gas transmission lines to support LNG imports from Greek terminals
Bulgaria said that work had begun on the construction of a new Bulgaria-Serbia Balkan natural gas interconnector with plans for the pipeline to become operational in October 2023 and to enable supplies to come from two Greek LNG import terminals.
These links to the expanding Balkan natural gas market will come from the existing Greek LNG import terminal at Revithoussa operated by the Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA) near Athens, and the proposed new floating LNG project at Alexandroupolis in eastern Greece.
The 170 kilometres (105.6 miles) Bulgaria-Serbia interconnector is separate from the TurkStream link of Russian natural gas supplier Gazprom and will run from the Bulgarian capital Sofia via Dimitrovgrad in Serbia to the city of Nis in southern Serbia, giving the Serbs a non-Russian supply option for the first time.
It will enable Serbia to import natural gas via Greece and Bulgaria from the Southern Gas Corridor bringing gas from Azerbaijan on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to southern Europe and as regasified LNG from the two Greek LNG terminals.
The Bulgaria-Serbia interconnector is supported by the European Union as a Project of Common Interest and has secured a €49.5 million ($56.5M) grant from the EU.
The EU grant comes from the EU Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance as Serbia is not an EU member is simply in the “waiting room”.
The Bulgaria-Serbia pipeline has also secured €25M from the European Investment Bank loan of €25M.
Regasfied LNG
The pipeline will have a capacity of 1.8 billion cubic metres per annum in the direction Bulgaria-Serbia with the possibility also of reverse flow.
There are additional plans for a new interconnector to link the gas grids of Greece and the former Yugoslav nation of North Macedonia.
The gas grid operators of the two countries in September 2021 signed a new gas cooperation agreement, a key step ahead of construction of the new link.
The 123 km pipeline will have an initial capacity of 1.5 Bcm per annum with possible doubling of capacity. A final investment decision is expected before the end of the second quarter of 2022.
The Balkans have been historically dependent on Russian gas imports, though can also receive gas from Azerbaijan on the TAP pipeline and regasified LNG from the Revithoussa terminal.
Greece's Gastrade at the end of January 2022 took the final investment decision for the planned 5.5 Bcm per annum floating LNG import terminal at Alexandroupolis in northern Greece, paving the way for the project to begin operations by the end of 2023.
Gastrade SA, the Greek company developing an FLNG facility, took the FID with joint venture partners, including Bulgaria’s transmission company Bulgartransgaz.
GasLog FSRU
The FSRU will be provided by Greek shipping company GasLog and be connected to the DEFSA system by a 28km pipeline.
Regasified LNG entering the terminal will be able to flow onward to other markets in the region.
Bulgaria is also building a new interconnector with Greece called the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) allowing Azerbaijan's gas on the TAP pipeline to flow northward to Bulgaria and for the regasified Greek LNG to reach Bulgaria and then Serbia.
The IGB pipeline is scheduled to come on stream in July 2022.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov has just completed a visit to Serbia to discuss energy issues and the pipelines and LNG supplies with his Serbian counterpart, Ana Brnabić.
“There is great potential to create a single gas trade market involving Bulgaria, Serbia, North Macedonia and Greece,” stated Petkov during his visit to the Serbian capiatl Belgrade.
“We need to bring together the volumes of gas consumption in the whole region so that we can negotiate together for lower prices,” Petkov told a joint news conference with Serbian PM Brnabić.
“Our gas connectivity will be a huge priority. The Greek connection is very important for Bulgaria, and through the connection with Serbia you will have the opportunity to receive LNG and Azerbaijani gas,” added Petkov.
Brnabić, who attended the ceremony to mark the start of the pipeline construction, said that the gas pipeline would be ready for operation by October 2023, coinciding with the start-up of the Alexandroupolis FLNG facility.
Petkov told the news conference that Serbia’s future membership of the EU was a huge priority for Bulgaria.
Brnabić thanked Petkov for making the visit, saying that he was the first Bulgarian head of government to come to next-door neighbour Serbia since 2013.
Greek gas grid company DESFA wins contract to operate new Kuwait LNG import terminal at Al-Zour
Greece’s Hellenic Gas Transmission System Operator (DESFA), whose main shareholders are the gas utilities of Spain and Italy, said it was awarded the contract for operating and maintaining the new onshore liquefied natural gas import terminal under construction in Kuwait and set to start up in 2021.
Italian natural gas network operator Snam and partners optimistic on Kuwait LNG terminal bidding
Italian natural gas network operator Snam, one of Europe’s leading energy infrastructure companies, said it expected Kuwait Petroleum Corp., the Arab Gulf oil and gas company, to select a winner soon to run a liquefied natural gas import facility for which Italy’s grid operator has made a bid through a subsidiary.
Italian natural gas network firm and equity fund acquire control of LNG FSRU offshore Tuscany
Italian natural gas network company Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (SNAM) has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in the OLT Offshore LNG Toscana company which operates the floating regasification terminal off the West Coast of Italy.
Spanish gas network operator Enagas notes demand growth and gives LNG import schedule
Enagas, the Spanish natural gas network and terminal operator, said gas demand increased last year, led by industrial and commercial consumption as the economy improved, and more than 30 cargoes are scheduled to be received in early 2019 at the main LNG import terminals in Spain.
European LNG terminal and gas operators complete deal to take control of Greek network
European liquefied natural gas terminal stakeholders and network operators in Spain, Italy and Belgium have completed their acquisition of majority control of the Greek gas grid operator DEFSA, sold in a tender by the government privatization agency.
US to supply 30th nation with LNG as Greece to receive first Corpus Christi cargo December 27
The first shipment of liquefied natural gas from the newest US export plant at Corpus Christi in Texas is scheduled to arrive in Greece on December 27 and the European nation will be the 30th supplied by owner Cheniere Energy since it started exports from the Gulf Coast in 2016.
European LNG terminal and gas network owners formally given control of Greek system
European liquefied natural gas terminal stakeholders and network operators in Spain, Italy and Belgium have formally acquired majority control of the Greek gas grid operator sold in a tender by the government privatization agency.
