A MULTI-MILLION pound 'floating gas ship' off the coast of Barrow would create hundreds of jobs and help the town become a centre of UK energy excellence.

The planned £350m-450m project by infrastructure giants InfraStrata is 'just what Barrow needs', says the town MP.

Plans for the natural gas-generating vessel are moving forward with a deal expected in two months to give InfraStrata control of the project.

The agreement is subject to a final investment decision on whether the project’s future development goes ahead.

If it goes ahead the scheme is expected to produce revenues of between £80m and £100m a year.

“This project is just what Barrow needs and I am so glad it is moving forwards," said Simon Fell, MP for Barrow and Furness.

"Furness is ideally placed to become a UK centre of excellence for energy generation. Not only will this bring jobs to our area but it will also make it easier for new businesses to set up here, knowing that we have local expertise in offshore wind, civil nuclear, and gas.

“I want Barrow and Furness to be at the forefront of Britain’s green industrial revolution. This moves us one step closer to it.”

InfraStrata, which is a London-based company specialising in major infrastructure projects, entered into an exclusivity agreement to acquire the planned floating storage regasification and reloading unit (FSRU) project from Cayman Islands-based company Meridian Holdings.

Over the last year, InfraStrata has carried out work to assess the feasibility of the project and decide whether to make the acquisition.

Earlier this year it announced it had extended this agreement and, in a statement to the London Stock Exchange, it confirmed it had entered into an agreement to buy Meridian Holdings from owner West Face Long Term Opportunities Global Master, giving it control of the project. If the final investment decision gets the green light, the firm will pay £8m to take full control of the scheme.

John Wood, chief executive of InfraStrata, said the initial agreement could lead to a formal sale and purchase agreement within two months.

The FSRU is an emerging technology that has grown around the world over the past two decades. FSRUs take up natural gas, regasify it (taking it from the liquid form, where it is reduced in the proportion of 600:1) and expand it back into a gaseous form, which is used to generate electricity for domestic and other allied purposes.They are custom-built vessels, similar to Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers.

Mr Wood said: “The intermittency of power generation from wind and solar means natural gas will continue to be the fuel of choice for at least the next few decades. As we move towards a more decarbonised economy, natural gas will be the transitional fuel of choice, with LNG playing the all-important role of balancing natural gas and power markets."

The Barrow FSRU project includes the development of a floating liquefied natural gas receiving port offshore.This will deliver re-gasified volumes of natural gas directly into the UK market through its own national transmission system interconnection at Barrow.

It is hoped the project will be paid for by a consortium of funding partners.