Gaz-System has chosen the contractor that will provide the FSRU. It’s Japan’s Mitsui O. S. K. Lines.
Who will deliver the FSRU to Poland?
BW LNG from Korea and Mitsui from Japan were the final competitors in the tender. BiznesAlert.pl was the first to inform that the booking window was open only until the end of January, so if not used Poland’s FSRU project would be delayed by a few years.
In the end, Mitsui won. „On January 30, 2024, the company has selected the best offer for the delivery and operation of the Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) intended to serve as an LNG regasification terminal in the Gulf of Gdańsk. GAZ-SYSTEM will continue negotiations of the terms of the SRU Time Charter Party agreement with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines,” the company said in a press release.
„The selection of the LNG Floating Storage and Regasification Unit supplier is an important milestone in the implementation of the FSRU Program which the Company has pursued for many months now. In the near future, we will focus on developing the detailed terms of the so-called Time Charter Party. Further, we need to obtain all necessary corporate approvals from the Company’s management bodies to sign the agreement with the shipowner,” explained the company VP Andrzej Kensbok.
„Being selected for this strategically important project for Poland has been a great honour for MOL and we are committed to working closely with GAZ-SYSTEM to deliver Poland’s first FSRU which would not only strengthen the energy security in Poland, but in the region in the long-term. This project also aligns with MOL’s Group Vision of realizing a sustainable society through the development of social infrastructure businesses and the provision of lower emission energy. We are confident that the vast operational and technical experience we have garnered through our 140 years of history in the industry, along with our financial capability, will enhance the project and ensure a seamless, safe and efficient service is provided to GAZ-SYSTEM, ” said Toshinobu Shinoda, Senior Managing Director for Europe and Africa at Mitsui O. S. K. Lines, Ltd.
What is the state of the FSRU in Poland according to Gaz-System?
„The Program assumes the FSRU berthed at a mooring platform approximately 3km from the shore, in the area of the Port of Gdańsk between the mouths of the Vistula River branches: Śmiała and Martwa. As part of the Program, also the necessary offshore and onshore infrastructure will be constructed. In July 2023, GAZ-SYSTEM completed the process of obtaining administrative decisions for all onshore pipelines to be built under the Program. In August 2023, in an Open Season procedure, full regasification capacity of the FSRU Terminal accounting for 6.1 bcm was booked for a period of 15 years. In December 2023, as part of the ongoing offshore engineering work, geological surveys in Gdańsk were completed. They will provide the results for subsoil analysis necessary to determine the location of the landfall of the offshore gas pipeline and its route,” the press release said.
„GAZ-SYSTEM is also exploring the potential of the construction market before launching tenders for the construction of offshore infrastructure. As part of the RFI (Request for Information) procedure, on 16 January 2024, a meeting with potential EPC contractors (Design & Build project) was held at the Company head office in Warsaw. The participants represented 20 companies experienced in delivering the largest and comprehensive projects of this type,” the press release continues.
The supplier was selected not long after the new Government Plenipotentiary for Strategic Energy Infrastrcuture – Maciej Bando – was appointed. The attorney supervises the following companies: Gaz-System, PSE, PERN and Polish Nuclear Power Plants.
A floating LNG port, i.e. a storage and regasification unit of the FSRU, is a vessel that can receive and transmit LNG to the gas network. The Polish company wants to dock a FSRU in the Gulf of Gdańsk in 2027-28. The planned capacity is 6.1 billion cubic meters a year and has bee already booked by PGNiG of the Orlen Group.
Gaz-System / Wojciech Jakóbik