Friday, December 7, 2007
LNG terminal could be in operation by 2012
7 December 2007
Upstream
Cyprus hopes to have an onshore liquefied natural gas terminal in operation by 2012 or 2013 but plans to use an offshore regasification plant in the interim, writes Iain Esau.
Solon Kassinis, energy services director at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Tourism, said Kellogg Brown & Root has completed the basic engineering of the onshore terminal at Vassilikos and expected tenders for a front-end engineering and design contract to be released within three months.
He suggested the FEED work would last about six months, pointing towards the likelihood of the engineering, construction and procurement tender process kicking off at the end of next year.
The terminal will initially be sized to handle 1 billion cubic metres per year of gas, which could be increased to 2 Bcm per year.
As for the offshore regasification scheme, he said a FEED study is currently under way and that approaches have been made by the likes of SBM Offshore, Mitsui and Excelerate Energy.
The offshore plant will only be used until the onshore terminal comes on line, suggesting five years as the most likely contract term.
