Japan's MOL Announces Hong Kong FSRU Deal
Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has entered into a preliminary agreement to supply a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), as well as jetty operation and maintenance services for the Hong Kong offshore LNG terminal project on a long-term contract, it said June 25.
MOL will utilise the FSRU Challenger built in 2017 with a storage capacity of 263,000 m3 which remains the largest FSRU in the world today, to provide services to the Hong Kong terminal project.
The FSRU was constructed at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in South Korea and is currently employed on a mid-term charter for a project in Turkey, MOL said. The Hong Kong project will be located at the southern waters of Hong Kong and to the east of the Soko Islands. The FSRU is expected to enter into service earliest by end-2020 after delivery and completion of commissioning. The FSRU will distribute gas into two destinations in Hong Kong, the Black Point power station located at New Territories and Lamma power station located at Lamma Island.
The Hong Kong offshore LNG terminal project is being developed to support the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government's target of generating about half of Hong Kong's electricity from natural gas from 2020 onward to improve air quality. Planning for the project is progressing at a good pace and the environmental impact assessment study for the project has been submitted to the government, MOL said, adding discussions are ongoing to develop and reach a definitive agreement for the supply of the FSRU.