Mitsui OSK Lines has announced that MOL, along with a subsidiary of GDF Suez, has signed a 20-year time charter party for a floating storage re-gasification unit (FSRU).
The FSRU will be a core facility for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project in Uruguay led by Gas Sayago. This is the first FSRU project for MOL where the company solely builds, owns, and operates such a unit.
The 345-metre x 55-metre FSRU will have a storage capacity of 263,000 cubic metres of LNG, making it the world's largest. Built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in South Korea, the FSRU is to be completed by September 2016 and will enter into service in November of that year following delivery and commissioning at the Port of Montevideo.
Since FSRUs first came into practical use in 2005, plans to operate them have been developing in many places around the world as they provide a competitive solution for receiving LNG because of timing and cost effectiveness.
A floating storage re-gasification unit is a floating facility for storing and re-gasifying LNG, which is then pressurised and piped ashore. The receiving terminal will be located four kilometres offshore off the Port of Montevideo, Uruguay, where FSRU will be moored on off shore jetty protected by breakwater.
The FSRU will deliver natural gas ashore through high-pressure arms located on the jetty head. The natural gas will be sent ashore via a subsea pipeline.
