The contracting of two ships that will produce energy in Vlora, Tigri 1 and Tigri 3, will bring losses to the KESH budget. Today, the price of energy in the stock market is cheaper than the cost of energy production from their power plants. It's practically not worth turning them on!
But regardless, we will continue to pay $68 million in rent and operating costs over two years.
If the ships were contracted during the summer and autumn months and were in operation at that time, they would bring some profit. But they did not arrive when we needed them, even though an emergency tender was made. When KESH signed the contract, it did not leave a deadline for their delivery date, completely eliminating the urgency of the process, and today, 1 year after the tender, they are still not in working condition.
What raises doubts that there is an affair behind this contract are 3 facts:
- The TECs, contrary to what was said, will not remain in the property of the state, even KESH will have to wait for an insurance policy for a value of 20 million usd that the ships cost. If the ships cost 20 million usd, then why should we pay 45 million usd for their 2-year lease? Would it be cheaper for us to buy them?
- The company Excelerate Energy did not give a penny of itself to buy the ships. On April 4, 2022, he signed the contract with KESH and goes to the bank to get a loan after two weeks. With that money he insures the ships. Again, would it be cheaper for us to get a loan ourselves than to pay the interest on the private company's loans? So interest on interest?
- The Tec of Vlore has not been working for 9 years because the cooling system is not working. Its technology is diesel and it has the same production capacity as the two ships. Would it be more beneficial for us to fix the cooling system that has a lower financial bill and faster repair time than waiting 1 year for the ships to arrive? Also, a work that we spent 110 million euros to build, would we finally put it into operation?