Lloyd’s Register signed a contract to class the floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) ordered by Swan LNG, a unit of Swan Energy.

The vessel to be stationed at Jafrabad port, will be built to LR’s Rules for the Classification of Offshore Units by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), with the delivery scheduled for December 2019.

The new 180,000-cbm FSRU project will help meet the demand for LNG in the region, natural gas is projected to make up 20 percent of India’s total energy consumption by 2030. The Indian gas market is expected to be one of the fastest growing in the world over the next two decades, the country is the fourth largest energy consumer in the world (after the US, China and Russia), LR said.

FSRUs are regarded as an alternative for meeting the growing demand for regasification because they are significantly cheaper to operate than onshore plants.

SLPL’s Bhavik Merchant said, “Our FRSU based LNG Terminal at Jafrabad will help India’s push to increase the proportion of gas in its energy mix to power its economic expansion.”

The overall cost for the project with a total capacity of 5 mtpa, expected to start operation in early 2020, is at 40 billion Indian Rupees ($615.2 million).