According to US Ambassador to Albania, Yuri Kim, US company Exxon could be set to bring LNG to the Vlora Thermal Power Plant.
She made a comment during an interview with Euronews earlier this week, and it comes just days after the government announced it was looking for a company to take over the running of the plant.
Kim said, “another big American company called Exxon is looking at bringing in LNG into Vlora, which is currently a thermal power plant, but that will be converted.”
Albanian Power Corporation (KESH), which operates the country’s main hydropower plants, announced the call for expression of interest for the technical and economic opportunities for leasing a thermal power generation asset that can be easily integrated into the country’s transmission grid.
The call states that the entity wants to lease the facility for a period of one to three years. The third party should also provide maintenance and operation services for the duration of the contract and in line with the requirements of KESH. Requirements include operating on light and heavy fuel oil.
It must also be “fit to be deployed” near Vlora’s existing thermal power plant so it can easily use the existing interconnection infrastructure.
Reasons given for the call include needing more power for the public supply obligation, creating a reserve capacity to guarantee power supply security, complementing electricity generated by hydro and thermal resources, and creating surplus revenue.
Exxon have been in the news recently after it was found they had concealed payment to some governments and failed to meet transparency guidelines. In particular, they were found to be complicit in oil sector corruption in Liberia. They have also been accused of misleading investors on the real impact of climate change.
