Cancelled: Deal to buy world’s largest FSRU called off due to project delays



Dutch energy infrastructure provider Vopak has decided to ditch its plan to acquire the world’s largest liquefied natural gas floating storage and regasification unit for deployment offshore Hong Kong.

“Vopak decides to no longer make use of the share right of 49.99% of the FSRU in Hong Kong,” the company said.

Vopak has been working with the FSRU’s owner Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) of Japan to develop and commission the vessel — to be named Bauhinia Spirit — but “the delay of the project has resulted in reduced attractiveness and made Vopak decide not to make use of the share right”, Vopak said.

Upstream had reported that the coronavirus pandemic in Hong Kong delayed first gas from the project from March 2022 to June this year.

However, Vopak will remain involved in the commissioning of the LNG import terminal and will continue to provide support to the operation of the FSRU as required.

Late last week, the Challenger FSRU, to be renamed Bauhinia Spirit, arrived in the South Cheung Chau Anchorage offshore Hong Kong for port clearance before this week sailing to the LNG import project location east of the Soko Islands for final commissioning.

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The FSRU is the world’s largest with an overall length of 345 metres and storage capacity of 263,000 cubic metres of LNG. The vessel was upgraded at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, where the regasification capacity of between 540 million and 720 million cubic feet per day was expanded to between 600 MMcfd and 800 MMcfd.

The modifications to the FSRU also included installation of a high-pressure vaporiser, high-pressure pump and a high-pressure manifold, which both enables the increased regasification capacity and allows the FSRU to send out gas from both sides of the vessel.

Upgrading of the FSRU also involved the installation of new switchboards, shutdown and protection devices, as well as cable saddles and socket boxes, so that power generated on board can be safely supplied to the jetty facility.

The Hong Kong LNG project includes a double berth jacket-supported offshore jetty, a subsea pipeline linking the jetty with the CLP Lamma Island-owned Lamma power station, an onshore terminal at the power plant and a subsea pipeline linking the jetty with the Castle Peak Power-owned Black Point power station in the New Territories region of Hong Kong.

Two years ago, Japanese shipowner MOL signed an agreement with CLP and Castle Peak Power to supply the FSRU.

The agreement also obligates MOL to provide jetty operation and maintenance services for the jacket-supported terminal.

The project is operated by Hong Kong LNG Terminal, a joint venture between Hong Kong power utilities HK Electric and Castle Peak Power.

Under a deal signed in 2019, Shell will supply LNG to the terminal from its global portfolio.

Hong Kong now gets gas for power generation from PetroChina’s West-East gas pipeline grid as well as from the Yacheng 13-1 and Yacheng 13-4 gas fields in the South China Sea operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation.