Hong Kong LNG terminal start date slips further

Hong Kong's planned 4mn t/yr LNG import terminal has been delayed further, with start-up now expected in 2022, project partner CLP Power said.

The project's start was delayed last year until the end of 2020 — a year later than initially planned — following a set-back to the start of construction, which began last year.

The terminal is set to use the 263,000m³ FSRU Challenger floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), which is currently installed offshore Turkey under a separate charter with state-owned Botas.

FSRU owner Mitsui OSK Lines extended Botas' charter on the unit in May last year, for an additional 10 months, which is set to expire this month. But Botas' replacement FSRU for the Turkish import terminal — the 170,000m³ Ertugrul Gazi — is yet to leave the shipyard, having been delayed from a planned delivery to Botas last year.

Shell is set to supply 1.2mn t/yr to CLP and has agreed to supply fellow terminal shareholders Hong Kong Electric and Castle Peak Power (Capco) — partially-owned by CLP — with unspecified volumes of LNG upon completion of the import project.

Capco also operates the 3GW Black Point gas-fired plant in Hong Kong's New Territories, consisting of eight 313MW combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) units and one 500MW CCGT unit that came on line last year. The firm's plan to commission a second 500MW CCGT unit by 2023 remains on track, CLP said.

By Samuel Good