Work starts on El Salvador’s first LNG FSRU

Work has started on a regasification module that will be installed onboard El Salvador’s first floating and regasification unit.

Once completed, the Wartsila module will be installed onboard Shell’s 2002-built LNG carrier Gallina that will be converted to an FSRU.

A steel cutting ceremony to mark the start of the module construction was held at China’s COSCO yard on Tuesday, according to BW LNG, a unit of the Singapore-based gas shipping company BW Group.

BW LNG signed a contract last year for the provision of an FSRU with U.S.-based private energy company Invenergy that is developing El Salvador’s first LNG-to-power project.

Inverengy is the main shareholder of Energía del Pacífico, the company behind the LNG-to-power project currently under construction at the Port of Acajutla.

The Hague-based energy giant Shell will supply LNG to the project under a long-term deal signed with Energía del Pacífico.

Besides the floating LNG import facility, the project includes the construction of a 378-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant and an approximately 44-kilometer electric transmission.

The project, expected to be able to meet 30 per cent of El Salvador’s energy demand, is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2021.