Port Meridian FSRU

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

Sub-articles:

FrackSwarm portal Coal terminals Coal transport and infrastructure Oil and gas pipelines LNG terminals Pipeline construction costs Methodology and data notes

Port Meridian FSRU was a proposed floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminal for receiving liquefied natural gas (LNG) situated 37 km offshore of Fylde, North West, UK. It was cancelled in June 2021.

Location

It is located 37 kilometers offshore of Flyde, North West, UK.

Loading map...

{"type":"ROADMAP","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"400px","height":"300px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":7,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":53.837,"lon":-2.861,"icon":""}]}

Project details

• Owner: Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc (formerly InfraStrata)
• Parent company: Harland & Wolff Group Holdings plc (formerly InfraStrata)
• Location: Fylde, Lancashire, North West, UK
• Coordinates: 53.837, -2.861 (approximate)
• Capacity: 6 mtpa, 0.86 bcfd
• Cost: £350 million-450 million (US$442 million-$568 million)
• Financing:
• Status: Cancelled
• Type: Import
• FID Status: Pre-FID
• Start year: 2024

Background

Port Meridian FSRU is a proposed LNG terminal in North West, UK. The project will consist of developing a permanently moored Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU) capable of taking LNG through a ship-to-ship transfer, regasifying the LNG, and exporting it through a new pipeline system to the National Transmission System (NTS) at Barrow‐in‐Furness in Cumbria. The FSRU will have a capacity of 170,000 m³, and the pipeline and land facilities have a maximum daily throughput rate of 1,250 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd).

According to Port Meridian, planning permission has already been granted by Barrow Borough Council (the local planning authority), and "All major offshore permits have been obtained, approved ‘in principle’, or are in the final stages of being obtained."

In December of 2018, Global Energy Ventures Ltd had its gas sales agreement (GSA) conditions with Meridian LNG Holdings Corp and Uniper Global Commodities SE extended. The agreement aims to secure Port Meridian gas volume rights and gas sale rights to Uniper of up to 300 million standard cubic feet a day. The deadline to secure a deal has been pushed to December 31, 2019, and January 1, 2021, for commercial operability.

In July 2020, London-based InfraStrata agreed the acquisition of the the FSRU project with Meridian Holdings. InfraStrata said that the project costs are likely to be £350 million-450 million (US$442 million-$568 million), with a final investment decision set to follow within three years. Funding for the project, according to InfraStrata, is to come from the creation of a consortium of partners: "Discussions with key partners have commenced - a consortium consisting of globally recognized companies involved in the development, construction, operations and commercialization of regasification terminals worldwide will be formed in due course." IJ Global also reported that Port Meridian had been lined up to receive LNG from the proposed Magnolia LNG Terminal in Louisiana for E.ON, but "it is not clear if this deal has lapsed."

In June 2021, the project promoter InfraStrata announced in a trading update that it had "formally withdrawn from the proposed FSRU project in Barrow-in-Furness". It noted also that "the energy complex has undergone a fundamental shift towards renewables and hydrogen over the past 18 months. The company no longer sees a business case for an FSRU project".