Setting up an FRSU in India-I: Advantage of time and cost
Jul 19: After an Indian business group's plans to set up a 6 MMTPA Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FRSU) mainly as a captive gas supply source, there is a heightened interest in India about FRSU-based terminals. 8The website carries here a very comprehensive template on how an FRSU concept can work in India. 8The biggest advantage for an FRSU is that it can typically represent just 60% of an onshore terminal cost and can be delivered in a shorter time. An onshore 3 mtpa terminal with one 180,000 m3 storage tank is likely to cost Rs 3500 to Rs 4000 crore, compared to Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 crore for a similar capacity FSRU. 8A component wise comparison of the cost differential is carried here. 8What is more, an FRSU can be delivered quicker: an onshore terminal is driven by the construction of the tanks which is typically 36-40 months. New build FSRUs take 27-36 months to delivery but a conversion of an existing LNG carrier to an FRSU would be less at typically 18-24 months. 8However, the real schedule advantage is if an FSRU is readily available, either reassigned from another project or constructed on a speculative basis. 8A recent example of this is the second FSRU for Ain Sokhna which commenced operation in just 5 months after the issue of tender documents. This was possible because the onshore handing infrastructure was already available. 8At the buyer end, however, the setting up of onshore infrastructure will have to be taken into account while looking at shorter timelines. Click on Reports for more