Yesterday the commercial operation of the gas regasification-storage floating unit (FSRU) of the Gastrade company in Alexandroupoli began, making the acrid city an energy gateway for the entire Balkans. The shareholders are Elmina Kopelouzou (20%), Gaslog (20%), DEPA Emporias (20%), DESFA (20%) and Bulgartransgaz – the Natural Gas Transmission Operator of Bulgaria – (20%).
Critical work
The Alexandroupolis FSRU has been characterized by the European Commission as a critical project for securing the natural gas supply of both Greece and the wider region. Natural gas will reach Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia and further to Moldova and Ukraine in the east and Hungary and Slovakia in the west. In fact, even before it was delivered, it has gained the interest of major investors, as 80% of the terminal’s capacity has already been committed on a long-term basis by 13 different companies operating in the area.
The floating LNG temporary storage and gasification station is approximately 300 meters long, was converted into an FSRU at the Keppel shipyard in Singapore and on November 26, 2023 began its journey to Alexandroupolis. It arrived on December 17, 2023 and its mooring was completed on December 23, 2023. It is anchored 17.6 kilometers southwest of the port of Alexandroupoli, ten kilometers from the coast of Makri. It includes tanks with a capacity of approximately 153,500 cubic meters of LNG and is estimated to have the capacity to supply the National Natural Gas Transmission System with approximately 5.5 billion cubic meters of fuel per year.
Procedure
LNG carrier tankers transport the liquefied cargo through cryogenic pipes to the floating unit (FSRU) tanks. Afterwards, the LNG is gasified in the facilities located on the floating unit and, through a special device, is transferred to the submarine natural gas pipeline, which, following a 24 km route, is beached in the area of Apalos, east of Alexandroupoli. Then, continuing with a northward course of four kilometers, it ends at the new Metering and Regulating Station in the Amphitritis area, where it is connected to the National Natural Gas Transmission System.
The… trigger
Exactly two years ago, the FSRU construction launch ceremony was held in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, European Council President Charles Michel, Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski. At the time, the Prime Minister had emphasized that the FSRU makes Greece an important “energy player” in Southeast Europe.
At the same time, “it precisely symbolizes the European dimension of this very important development project. A project that helps the economy of all our countries, a project with an important geopolitical footprint, a project that – brought about by life and international circumstances, and the violent Russian invasion of Ukraine – acquires a special geopolitical importance in this world, which is changing at such a rapid rate,” he had said.
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