Squire Patton Boggs has advised Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) on the long-term charter of a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) which will be used to provide liquefied natural gas (LNG) to a 235 MW floating power plant in Senegal.
The FSRU was constructed in Singapore by Karmol, a joint venture between MOL and Turkish company Karpower International B.V. (Karpowership), part of the Karadeniz Energy Group. This is the first of Karmol’s FSRUs that arrived at the port of Dakar, Senegal, at the end of May 2021. Connected to the powership through gas pipelines, the FSRU will supply regasified LNG allowing the powership to generate a reliable source of electricity for Senegal’s grid. Previously fueled by liquid fuels, the powership in Senegal, which is supplying 15% of Senegal’s electricity, will now be fueled by cleaner burning LNG.
The Squire Patton Boggs team advising MOL was led by Commodities & Shipping Group partner Kate Sherrard in Singapore, who previously advised on the partnership between MOL and the Karadeniz Energy Group and has been supporting the client since Karmol’s inception. Drawing upon multi-sector expertise, the cross-border team at Squire Patton Boggs included Peter Stewart, Corporate, Energy & Natural Resources partner and co-leader of the Africa Practice in London, senior associate Jevgenia Serper and associate Aik Hui Chua from the Commodities & Shipping Group in Singapore, and Bernice Chia, senior associate in the Commodities & Shipping Group in Hong Kong.
Headquartered in Tokyo, multimodal transport group MOL is one of the largest shipping companies in the world and the largest operator of LNG carriers. MOL’s fleet includes dry cargo ships, LNG carriers, ro-ro vessels, and oil and dry bulk tankers. MOL also develops a variety of social infrastructure businesses, in addition to traditional shipping businesses, which will meet evolving social needs including environmental conservation, with innovative technology and services.
Kate Sherrard commented: “Our whole team is delighted to be supporting MOL on this landmark project, the first in its important partnership through Karmol which will see the production of new FSRUs for powerships in other markets around the globe and thereby bring LNG facilitated power generation to countries with no natural gas infrastructure.”