Alexandroupoli FSRU awaiting Bulgarian, Romanian decisions

Gas utility DEPA’s recent decision to enter the prospective Alexandroupoli FSRU project consortium with a 20 percent stake leaves two more vacancies for the line-up’s completion and internationalized establishment.

The venture’s consortium, formed by the Copelouzos Group’s Gastrade, is now awaiting entry decisions from Bulgaria’s BulgarGasTrans as well as Romania’s Rompetrol, seriously examining the prospect of acquiring a 20 percent stake in this prospective LNG terminal project in Greece’s northeast.

Gaslog, active in LNG transportation, was the first partner to join Gastrade with a 20 percent stake in the consortium.

Gastrade is now preparing to stage a binding second-round market test for capacity reservations. RAE, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, has approved Gastrade’s procedure inviting participants to bid.

This second-round bidding phase is expected to be completed by the end of January, paving the way for a finalized investment decision by the project’s developers.

The first round’s non-binding expression of interest phase was completed at the end of last December.

A total of 24 bidders had expressed interest for 12.2 billion cubic meters, more than double the planned facility’s annual regasification capacity of 5.5 bcm.