Greek energy firm Energean said it is making progress on building its floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) units on target to deliver gas from its Israeli fields in late 2021.
London-listed Energean holds the development licenses for the Karish and Tanin natural gas fields.
The company said it has completed laying the electrical house (E-house), which contains all FPSO electronic control and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems aboard the rig, currently under construction at the Admiralty Shipyard in Singapore.
The E-house, weighing at 850 tons and about 15 meters high, controls the power supply and gas treatment processes.
And 13 suction anchors (piles) were installed last week, weighing between 176-233 tons each; these will anchor the FPSO installation when it reaches its permanent location above the Karish well, prior to starting production.
The piles, 7.5-9 meters long and 17-19 meters high, were placed at a depth of about 1,700 meters below the water surface.
Energean holds production licenses and projects in Israel, Greece and the Adriatic Sea.
It entered the Israeli market in 2016, obtaining development licenses for the Karish and Tanin reserves.
“The “Energean Power” FPSO will be used to develop all of the company’s Israeli fields. It will be installed 90 km offshore and be the first FPSO ever to operate in the Eastern Mediterranean,” said Energean in a statement.
“Installation of the Energean Power FPSO mooring lines is now in progress and the project remains on track to deliver first gas in 2H 2021,” it added.
The company has signed agreements for the sale of 5.6 bcm (annually) gas to the Israeli market with future agreements expected to focus on both domestic and major export markets in the region.
Energean has made a pitch to sell its Israeli natural gas to Cyprus via pipeline at a “competitive price” while Nicosia is opting for LNG.
It has offered to build a $350 mln pipeline to Cyprus — using its own money — to supply gas from its Karish North field to the island.
So far, Cyprus has said it does not need the pipeline as it plans to install a floating LNG import terminal.
