Azeri state company to provide floating LNG terminal

Azerbaijan state company SOCAR will provide the supply of liquefied natural gas and a floating storage vessel for the 200MW gas power plant, Gasol plc said in its half-yearly report.

The West African company formed the ElectroGas Malta consortium upon the issuance of the expression of interest in April 2013 by the government, bringing together Maltese companies Tumas Group and Gasan Group (Gem Holdings Ltd), Siemens Project Ventures GmbH and SOCAR.

"Malta has one of the highest electricity prices in Europe, due to a dependence on oil for electricity production. Its market characteristics fit Gasol's strategy, which is to provide gas to markets which are gas constrained, and which have high electricity prices," the company said.

In April 2013, the energy ministry issued an EOI followed by a request for proposals the pre-qualified bidders in June 2013. Initially 19 companies expressed interest in the Project.

"The strength of the consortium is that it is able to provide a complete solution for Malta, through the supply of LNG and a floating storage vessel, both provided by SOCAR, the construction and subsequent operation of a new power plant (Siemens), local connections and know-how (through GEM) and Gasol as lead developer in the negotiation of the project agreements and procuring of bank finance," the company said.

The new energy supplier is required to supply approximately 200 MW from a new gas-fired CCGT (combined-cycler gas turbine) power plant and corresponding LNG facilities, which will also supply a further 150MW of existing Enemalta plant, which will be converted to run on natural gas.  The project is to be built on available space at the existing Delimara power station.

The term of the project is 18 years and the target date for commissioning the new CCGT power plant is spring 2015.  The LNG facilities will be commissioned ahead of the CCGT to provide gas for CCGT testing.