Floating production storage and offloading

The year 2025 is shaping up to be pivotal for the long-delayed liquefied natural gas terminal project in Vasilikos, following last year's setback caused by the withdrawal of Chinese consortium CMC.

Nearly 120 floating production systems could be ordered in the next five years, according to Scottish consultancy Energy Maritime Associates (EMA).

Floating production systems (FPS) first emerged in the 1970s as an option for the production of hydrocarbons discovered at greater ocean depths, surpassing the viability of fixed platform installations.

Türkiye is seeking to carry out oil and natural gas exploration activities in different regions in the world through partnerships, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said.

Türkiye has put countries and regions on its radar, he noted.

"One of them is Somalia… We also want to take part in different projects in Iraq," the minister told a group of journalists in Ankara.

US interest in utilizing Alexandroupoli as a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) transportation hub in the Central and Southeast Europe region is highlighted by the agreement American company Venture Global announced to book 25% of the capacity to the new floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU).

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has announced that there will be further hydrocarbon explorations in the western Black Sea this year.

One of the exploration sites is off the coast of the province of Rize, Bayraktar told private broadcaster A Haber, adding that they also identified a site to carry out exploration activity off Sinop.

On February 18th the floating storage regasification unit in Alexandroupoli received its first test shipment of US liquefied natural gas. In other energy news, it looks like decision time has come for hydrocarbon surveys off Crete.

A photo taken by drone shows the transshipment procedures of the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at the Floating Terminal in Alexandroupolis, northern Greece, 21 February 2024.

The specially designed tanker of Gastrade, the offshore natural gas storage and regasification unit - about 300 meters long - which was converted into an FSRU at the Keppel shipyard in Singapore, sailed into the berth of Alexandroupoli port on Sunday.

After undergoing a conversion into a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU), the GasLog tanker set sail on November 26 from Seatrium, Keppel's famous shipyard in Singapore and where most conversations from LNG tanker to FSRUs are carried out, and is expected to reach the port of Alexandroupoli on December 17.

The consortium licensed for Cyprus' "Aphrodite" gas field will update the development and production plan of the field by March 31, as announced by the minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, George Papanastasiou. He pointed out that a floating production unit (FPU) above the gas field would be an essential plan of the new agreement.