Greece’s first FSRU receives commissioning LNG cargo

Greece’s first floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) based LNG import terminal is gearing up for commissioning tests with the arrival of the first LNG cargo.

The commissioning cargo to the Alexandroupolis FSRU was delivered on February 18, 2024, onboard GasLog Hong Kong LNG carrier.

Once the cargo is unloaded, the FSRU-based terminal will undergo commissioning tests.

The Alexandroupolis, former 2010-built LNG carrier GasLog Chelsea, was converted to the FSRU at Seatrium shipyard in Singapore in 2023. Following the ten-month conversion, the unit sailed away from Singapore on November 26, 2023, and entered the waters of the Thracian Sea of Greece on December 7, 2023.

After arriving in Greece, the Alexandroupolis FSRU anchored through a spread 12-point mooring system.

It will be connected to the 28-kilometer-long high-pressure subsea and onshore gas transmission pipeline, developed by Corinth Pipeworks, which, once operational, will deliver natural gas to the Greek Transmission System (NNGTS) and onwards to the final consumers in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, North Macedonia, Serbia and further to Moldova and Ukraine to the East and Hungary and Slovakia to the West.

Upon completing all testing activities, the terminal is planned to be commercially operational in the first quarter of 2024 and will have a maximum sustainable regasification capacity of 5.5 billion cubic meters a year.

In October 2023, the European Commission, under EU State aid rules, greenlighted a €106 million Greek measure to support the completion of the construction of Gastrade’s DNV-classed LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis.

The Alexandroupolis is the first FSRU conversion project under the Greek flag for operation in the Aegean Sea and is expected to boost the local economy and bolster energy security.