Chinese Win In Cypriot FSRU Tender

A Chinese-led consortium has been selected as the preferred contractor to supply a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) for an LNG terminal in Cyprus.

The group consisting of Chinese state entities China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering (CPP) and Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, Greek firms Aktor and Metron and Norway’s Wilhelmsen Ship Management, outbid two other consortia backed by South Korean and Japanese firms, Cyprus’ state-owned Natural Gas Public Co. (Defa) reported on August 23. The companies involved will be invited to Nicosia to start contract talks as soon as possible, it said.

“We are pleased to see the successful outcome of the process,” Defa chairman Symeon Kassianides said. “Here at Defa we believe that the future of the country is aligned with natural gas and we expect it to play a major role in the economic development of the country in years to come.”

This is Cyprus’ fourth attempt at advancing an LNG import project. Defa launched the latest FSRU last year, and had to extend the deadline several times so that companies had time to put together proposals. The closing date for bids finally came on July 12. These delays have cast doubt on whether the facility will be ready to operate in 2021 as planned.

The project, priced at €250mn ($278mn), will also include a jetty for mooring the FSRU, a jetty-borne gas pipeline and related infrastructure.