Testing of LNG regasification packages for floating installations is taking place this summer in advance of commissioning off Brazil, Boston, and Dubai. The units are supplied by Hamworthy PLC, Dorset, UK.
Brazil
Work is under way in the Keppel Shipyard, Singapore, to install three Hamworthy LNG propane regasification skids aboard the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) Golar Winter, said the supplier in an announcement. Chartered by Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), the 138,000-cu m vessel will soon sail for Brazil to tie up in Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro, and send vaporized LNG into the local onshore grid. Gas trials and start-up are to take place this month.
Hamworthy delivered the three skids at the end of 2008. Capacity of each skid is 7 million cu m/day; outlet pressure is 103 bar (about 1,500 psi), and outlet temperature up to 6° C. Two skids will be used during nominal send-out, said the supplier, while the third is on standby.
Each 70-tonne skid is 10.5 m long, 6.1 m wide, 8 m high, and contains pumps, motors, heat exchangers, instrumentation, and control systems. The equipment is designed for marine installations and cryogenic working conditions and can handle large variations in send-out capacity, said the Hamworthy announcement.
“The equipment…is based on seawater heating and therefore requires less fuel and operating cost to regasify the LNG than steam-based systems,” said Tore Lunde, managing director of Hamworthy Gas Systems. The Golar Winter system is based on seawater heating in a closed propane loop; the intermediate propane circuit between seawater and LNG is applied to avoid freezing.
Petrobras completed installation on its first floating regas terminal, at Pecem, Ceara state, earlier this year. That vessel is the 127,000-cu m Golar Spirit (OGJ, Mar. 16, 2009, p. 64).
Off Boston, Dubai
Golar Winter’s plant was the company’s second system to be delivered. Hamworthy delivered the first plant in summer 2008 for installation aboard the 145,000-cu m LNG shuttle regasification vessel (SRV) Suez Neptune. That vessel is the first of two SRVs ordered from Samsung in South Korea for Hoegh LNG to serve the Neptune terminal off Boston. Gas trials are scheduled for next month.
SRVs are designed to transport and store LNG and then vaporize it to be sent ashore by subsea pipeline. Hamworthy is supplying three regasification skids per ship. Each ship’s set will have a regasification capacity of 210 tonnes/hr of LNG with send-out pressure of 115 bar. Gas trials will be taking place on the second Neptune SRV, Suez Cape Ann, in June 2010.
Hamworthy’s third regasification project is for the 126,000-cu m FSRU Golar Freeze for Dubai Supply Authority and Shell in Dubai. Hamworthy is delivering the regasification skids for this vessel in September, it said.
The system will be installed on the 1977-built LNG carrier that is being converted into an FSRU before being time-chartered by Dubai Supply for 10 years, with options to extend for up to another 5 years.
After its delivery to DUSUP in second quarter 2010, Hamworthy says the Golar Freeze will be permanently moored alongside a purpose-built jetty within the existing Jebel Ali port. The FSRU will be capable of storing 125,000 cu m of LNG and delivering up to 14 million cu m/day (about 3 million tonnes/year) of regasified LNG to Dubai Supply for delivery into the Dubai gas network.