Vasilikos LNG Terminal: The Government is concerned that construction of the pier is stuck

Works for the construction of a pier at the natural gas receiving terminal at Vasilikos remain stuck, more than a month after President Nikos Christodoulides visited the area.

Work on the entire project had begun again after being interrupted by the Chinese consortium responsible for the project as a result of disputes that had arisen with the Government.

This has caused concern in the ranks of the Government, which, as the Minister of Energy, George Papanastasiou, has told InBusinessNews , is in discussions with the company to speed up the project.

According to Papanastasiou, "the works have resumed and are continuing after the visit of the President of the Republic to the site. The only project that has not progressed since then is the pier," he added, noting that "we recognise that this is a difficult project."

"Unlike the pier, however, all other land works have progressed, while as we know, work on the ship in Shanghai has also progressed significantly," he added.

Therefore, he stressed, "the only issue that worries us at the moment is the pier and we are in discussion with the company to see how the works will be accelerated."

120 people the company wanted eventually did not come

Asked if the 120 people requested by the company had come to Cyprus, the Minister of Energy answered in the negative.

"We were told that the company would provide us with a relevant list, but to date it has not done so. What we understand, however, is that the company is trying alternative ways to make all the necessary arrangements for the pier," he said.

Asked to estimate whether the project will be ready by the end of the year, Papanastasiou said that "the project is expected to be completed around the end of 2024 to the beginning of 2025." "That, at least, has been stated to us at least by their political superior," he explained.

"We are waiting for an invitation to receive the ship"

Regarding the ship "Prometheus" he repeated that "based on the contract, the ship requires two certifications."

One certification, he explained, "has to do with the fact that the ship can transport liquefied natural gas to be able to sail to Cyprus."

"When it arrives at Vasilikos, the ship will have to get the second certification required by the contract, for the use and gasification of natural gas, in order to be able to operate as a floating natural gas gasification unit," he added.

Answering a related question, Papanastasiou said "we have information that the effort to secure the first certification is progressing in the right direction and we will soon be invited to receive the ship."

When will we have natural gas for electricity?

Asked when we will have natural gas for power generation purposes, the Energy Minister explained that if all goes well and the terminal is ready by the end of the year, from there it will take another three to six months to prepare for the fuel switch in its production units EAC.

Therefore, he pointed out, "assuming everything is ready by the end of the year and the ship is connected to the system in mid-2025, it is expected to start generating electricity with liquefied natural gas."

However, according to Papanastasiou, "in addition to the above, a basic condition for such a thing is the approval of a natural gas offer by a supplier from the EAC side and the completion of the onshore natural gas transmission network".

The updated study for Great Sea Interconnector will be ready in June

Regarding the Great Sea Interconnector project, the Minister of Energy, speaking to InBusinessNews, emphasised that this is progressing normally, indicating that "however, in the end, whether the Republic of Cyprus will be a shareholder in this project is another matter and under no circumstances will affect its implementation."

"It is a European project, which is progressing normally. It has already received European funding, while the implementing body is in the process of finding other shareholders. I repeat the project is progressing normally," he emphasised.

In a related question, he recalled that "in order to make its investment decision, the Republic of Cyprus has requested an updated cost-benefit study, which is expected to be delivered to us by the implementing body by June."

"After we receive this study, we will probably have a specialised house evaluate it, because we don't have the expertise to analyse these kinds of studies," he pointed out.

"After examining the study and after formulating our position, the Government will take the final decision whether to participate in the project or not," concluded Papanastasiou.

(Source: InBusinessNews)