Prometheas Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU), which will become part of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) production project, will leave for Cyprus from Shanghai in early December, Energy Minister Georgios Papanastasiou announced on Wednesday, November 13.

Speaking at a meeting of the Nicosia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Evel), he noted that the arrival of the vessel would take from 20 to 45 days.

The representative of the Ministry, George Arotis, said that such a significant difference in the possible arrival time arose due to the fact that the ship would first have to enter the port on its way from Shanghai to Cyprus in order to receive official certification for use as an FSRU.

The Ministry has not yet decided where the certification process will take place, and accordingly, the route has not yet been determined, and the schedule for his arrival remains uncertain. Arotis added that although the ministry has several possible directions, they have not yet been made public.

The news about FSRU came after the Government of Cyprus and the CPP-Metron (CMC) consortium reached an agreement on its supply last month. FSRU is one of several moving elements of the project.

The state-owned natural gas infrastructure company Etyfa is expected to select a new project manager in the coming weeks. The project manager will then assist Etyfa in drafting tender documents for contracts for the remaining work at Vasiliko, which will be re-tendered after CMC terminated its contract with Etyfa in July for the construction of the entire LNG terminal and accused Etyfa of “bullying” and that the company had been forcing it to work for years “without proper and timely payment.”

“The situation has become unbearable. Contrary to the promises made by the Minister [of Energy] in March, CMC has still not received any payment for its work in 2024. This is just the latest setback in a four-year history characterized by improper withholdings and delayed payments. No contractor can work on credit indefinitely. This is not the deal that CMC signed up for. This is not a deal that the EU has agreed to finance,” the CMC said.

The situation worsened after the termination of the contract, when the European Commission demanded that Cyprus return almost 69 million euros paid as grants for the construction of the terminal.

The Ministry of Energy said it had received a letter from the European Commission listing “possible violations that occurred during the tender evaluation period” for the construction project.

According to the ministry, the commission’s letter “alleges two significant violations,” the first of which concerns the criteria for awarding the [CMC] tender in December 2019, and the second concerns the signing of a bilateral agreement after approval of additional financing in the amount of 25 million euros in June 2022.

Earlier that month, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) publicly announced the launch of an investigation into possible procurement fraud, embezzlement of EU funds and corruption related to the Vasiliko LNG terminal.

Cyprus signed the contract for the LNG project in December 2019. The entire project was supposed to be completed within 22 months.

A source: cyprus-mail.com

https://cyprusbutterfly.com.cy/news/fsru-prometheas-pokinet-shanxaj-sleduyushhem