“Final tests have been successfully completed,” a Gastrade spokeswoman told LNG Prime on Wednesday.
“The COD (commercial operation date) is still planned for October 1, 2024, to coincide with the start of the next gas year,” she said.
The 2018-built 174,000-cbm LNG carrier, GasLog Hong Kong, delivered on February 18 the commissioning cargo from the US to the 153,600-cbm FSRU, Alexandroupolis.
Gastrade said on April 5 that the company planned to launch commercial operations at the end of April and receive the next LNG cargo in mid-May.
However, the company postponed the launch due to a “technical issue” that was faced during the commissioning process of the terminal, it said on May 2.
Last month, Gastrade said the issue that was identified during commissioning in the pipeline system of the project was “under rectification” and the new COD is anticipated for October 1.
First Greek FSRU
Gastrade’s shareholders include founder Copelouzou, DESFA, DEPA, Bulgartransgaz, and GasLog.
This is Greece’s first FSRU and the second LNG import facility, adding to DESFA’s import terminal located on the island of Revithoussa.
The Alexandroupolis LNG terminal will have a capacity of 5.5 bcm.
Greece’s converted FSRU arrived in Alexandroupolis from Singapore on December 17, 2023, while mooring hook-up was completed on December 23.
The FSRU is located in the sea of Thrace at a distance of 17.6 km SW from the port of Alexandroupolis and 10 km from the nearest coast of Makri.
It is connected to a high-pressure subsea and onshore gas transmission pipeline.
Italy’s Saipem announced in April this year that the pipeline project had been completed. The work included the offshore installation of 24 kilometers of pipeline with its pipelay vessel Castoro 10.
Following commercial launch, the pipeline will deliver natural gas to the Greek transmission system 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, Gastrade previously said.
