Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Royal Vopak (Vopak) have come to an agreement whereby Vopak will acquire 49.99% of the shares in the vessel owning company of MOL FSRU Challenger, whose name will be changed to Bauhinia Spirit, a nod to Hong Kong’s flag, which features the tropical plant. This new joint venture company between MOL and Vopak in Hong Kong will own the world’s largest floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) and have a long-term contract with Hong Kong LNG Terminal Limited.
The FSRU has a storage and regasification capacity of 263,000 cu m and 800m mscfd, respectively. Under the contract, the joint venture will provide the FSRU as well as jetty operations and maintenance and port services.
The offshore jetty platform for the mooring of the FSRU and LNG carriers are owned by Hong Kong LNG Terminal.
The terminal is currently under construction and is expected to be operational around mid-2022. The terminal will be located offshore about 25 km southwest of Hong Kong Island. The terminal will provide natural gas feedstock to the customer’s dedicated power plants.
Eelco Hoekstra, CEO of Vopak, said: “This cooperation gives Vopak an excellent entry in the growing LNG market in Hong Kong and fits our ambition to diversify our service offering in LNG by investing in FSRUs.”
MOL and Vopak also aim to explore further downstream opportunities for bunkering of LNG in Hong Kong.
