MOL Enters FSRU Arena

Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has made a breakthrough into the LNG floating storage and regasification (FSRU) arena after bagging a deal for a new import project in Uruguay.

GDF Suez has been awarded a contract to develop the country’s first regasification terminal and will charter an FSRU from the Japanese shipowner, the French energy firm said today.

GDF Suez has secured a 15-year BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) contract starting in 2015 with local utility Gas Sayogo for the GNL del Plata project.

The 145,130-cbm regasification vessel GDF Suez Neptune (built 2009) will initially be deployed at the terminal before making way for a MOL-owned newbuild FSRU.

Norway’s Hoegh LNG was also in the running to provide a unit for the project to be located in Punta Sayogo near Montevideo.