The Prometheus vessel, owned by the Cypriot Natural Gas Public Company (ETYFA), has arrived in Malaysia for a technical inspection.
This was announced by Energy Minister Yiorgos Papanastasiou on Monday 30 December.
According to him, the vessel will be inspected by an independent company. The minister added that the Cypriot authorities had deliberately chosen Malaysia "because there are more professional services available there".
It should be noted that Malaysia is a temporary destination. The ship left Shanghai on 14 December, having received permission to sail after being certified as a gas carrier.
However, it still needs to be certified as a storage and regasification facility. This requires the vessel to dock at an operating terminal for testing. As the terminal at Vasiliko in Cyprus is not yet ready, the intention is to do this at another location. Greece has already been discussed. In particular, the port of Alexandropolis.
Recall that the contract for the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal at Vasiliko was signed between the government of Cyprus and the international consortium CPP-Metron (CMC) in December 2019. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place on 9 July 2020 with the participation of former Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.
The project includes a floating storage and regasification unit, a berth for mooring the floating unit, isothermal gas storage tanks, an evaporation plant and an onshore pipeline. The idea was to import natural gas to Cyprus in liquefied form, convert it to gaseous form (regasified) in LNG and then use it to run power plants.
The terminal was originally due to be completed by the end of 2021, but this was pushed back to the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. In the end, no one could give an exact completion date for the facility. And in July 2024, the contractor announced the suspension of the project. According to media reports, tensions arose between the state-owned Natural Gas Infrastructure Company (ETYFA) and the Chinese consortium CPP-Metron (CMC) over the lack of clear deadlines for the construction of the LNG terminal and problems with the shipment of a floating regasification unit from Shanghai to Cyprus.
Negotiations continued until 18 July, when the contractor announced its withdrawal from the project. The company accused the Cypriot side of non-payment of contractual fees and criticised the inexperience of the Cypriot side and the consultants hired by it. After lengthy negotiations, the Chinese authorities agreed to hand over the Prometheus to Cyprus.