Alexandroupolis LNG Import Terminal continues operation at a limited capacity: Operators
The LNG import terminal floating in Alexandroupolis in North Greece has continued the operation has been offline since the end of January, the gastrade operator said August 11.
Floating Storage and Regasification Unit – which began commercial operations in October last year – was taken entirely offline at the end of January due to technical problems.
It is hoped that the blackout will be completed at the end of March, and then in May, but the restart date is then pushed back to mid -August.
FSRU will only operate at 25% capacity from restart until the end of September.
“Gastrade announced the start of the demolition and regional service at the LNG Alexandroupolis terminal,” he said in a statement on August 11.
“Services will be available at a maximum regional capacity of 45.4 GWH/day including redundancy in connection with the booster pump,” he said.
Gastrade said the capacity limit will remain valid until 30 September 2025, in certain operational and commercial conditions.
“The current 25% limit of the terminal nominal capacity will be appointed at the beginning of the new gas year, on October 1, 2025,” he said, adding that certain operational restrictions could still be valid for a limited period of time.
Kargo LNG
FSRU Alexandroupolis began commercial operations in October 2024, became the second LNG import terminal in Greece, which is also home to the onshore Revithhoussa facility.
FSRU 5.5 BCM/year received a cargo commissioning in February 2024 and is expected to start commercial operations at the end of April 2024.
But the startup was postponed until October.
Since commercial operations began, four cargo was sent – each in October, November, December and January.
At the beginning of a commercial operation in October, Gastrade said 14 Greek and International companies participated commercially in this project, carrying out almost all terminal capacity up to at least 2030.
US LNG Exporter Venture Global is the newest company that registered for a capacity in Alexandroupolis, approved in September for a contract to use the five -year terminal that was binding for 25% of the regional capacity that began in 2025.
Lng pivot
Countries in Southeast Europe historically depend on the import of Russian pipe gas but increasingly switched to LNG since the Ukraine invasion in February 2022.
Bulgaria in particular wants to increase the imported LNG imports through Greece, as well as through Türkiye, after Russia cuts pipes to Bulgaria in 2022.
Bulgartransgaz State Bulgaria has 20% of shares in Gastrade along with Greek importers, founder of Elmina Copelouzou, Greek gas network operator Desfa, and Gaslog sending LNG-all with an interest of 20%.
Restarting in Alexandroupolis was present because the price of LNG Spot Europe remained high.
Platts, part of the S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the DES East Mediterranean marker on May 14 at $ 10.73/MMBTU.
Greece wants to become a regional gas center given the new interconnectivity has increased, access to the global LNG supply and the new gas trading platform launched in March 2022.
The import capacity of LNG surplus in Greece can be used for further gas flow to other markets.
Source: Platts
