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| Malta took delivery of its first LNG cargoes last week |
Galician firm Reganosa is to maintain and operate Malta’s Delimara LNG regasification plant, which will start commercial operations within weeks, under an agreement with ElectroGas Malta (EGM).
Last week, the first LNG cargoes arrived in Marsaxlokk Bay, Malta to be stored in a floating storage unit (FSU) for delivery to the nearby Delimara gas plant. FSU Armada LNG Mediterran aarrived in Malta last autumn.
Bumi Armada converted Mitsui OSK’s 1985-built, 125,000m³ LNG carrier Wakabu Maru into an FSU to supply LNG to the new 215MW combined-cycle gas plant at Delimara. There have been conflicting reports over when the power station will open. A Reganosa spokeswoman told LNG World Shipping that this will happen “within weeks”.
Delimara LNG will help to break Malta’s dependence on heavy fossil fuels for electricity generation. Reganosa says the country derives 98 per cent of its electricity “from fuels derived from petroleum, with the environmental disadvantages that this entails”.
Malta is one of just three confirmed takers so far for FSU-based imports, joining Bali in Indonesia and Jamaica. Armada LNG Mediterrana will store liquefied gas in Marsaxlokk harbour for delivery to the power station. EGM is a private limited company owned by Siemens Project Ventures, Azerbaijan’s Socar Trading and Malta-based GEM.
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