November 23 (SeeNews) - The LNG Croatia ship of state-owned company LNG Croatia, which develops the liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project on the Krk island, departed for its first cargo ahead of the planned launch of the terminal's commercial operations on January 1, the project company said.
The vessel will be loaded at the port of Sagunto in Spain, after which it is expected to arrive at the Krk island terminal in early December when all activities on commissioning the terminal will begin, LNG Croatia said in a statement in the weekend.
The ship is one the main elements of the future LNG terminal, representing its floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU).
It was converted into a FSRU vessel in a Chinese shipyard near Shanghai earlier this year, local media reported last month.
The Krk LNG terminal will deliver gas to the Croatian national transmission network connected to fellow EU member states Slovenia, Italy and Hungary, as well as non-EU member states Serbia and Montenegro.
The project comprises the construction and operation of a LNG terminal featuring a FSRU unit and its connections to the national gas transmission network.
The terminal will have a capacity of 2.6 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas per year.
In July 2019, the European Commission approved Croatia's plans to support the development of the 233.6 million euro ($277.9 million) LNG terminal project with 100 million euro in state aid.
($=0.84046 euro)