Aberdeen-based LNG engineer Wood Group has secured a new front-end engineering design contract with Gastrade for the Alexandroupolis liquefied natural gas project offshore Greece.
Wood Group’s subsea team will perform the design and engineering definition of the Alexandroupolis floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and its subsystems.
This would support the final investment decision for the project, planned for late 2017, according to a Wood Group statement.
Gastrade, the developer of the independent natural gas system offshore Alexandroupolis in Northern Greece, previously said that the project could be operational by end of 2019.
The Greek company formed by Asimina-Eleni Copelouzou has been involved in the development of the Alexandroupolis FSRU project over a number of years.
LNG shipper GasLog has also a 20 percent stake in Gastrade.
This FSRU project would provide a new route and a source of gas diversification to a number of countries that are currently highly dependent on pipeline gas in South East and Central Europe.
The project has the backing of the Greek and the Bulgarian Governments as well as the support of the EU.
The FSRU would be permanently anchored at a fixed location southwest from the port of Alexandroupolis.
The Alexandroupolis INGS will create a fourth natural gas import gate into Greece, with a send-out capacity of 6.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year and a storage capacity of up to 170,000 cubic meters of LNG, according to Gastrade’s website.