Hamworthy is to supply onboard vaporiser systems for two 145,000m3 shuttle regasification vessels (plus one option) ordered from Samsung to serve the Neptune LNG deepwater terminal, which has just received its licence.
Hamworthy plc has received confirmation for an order to supply onboard LNG regasification plants for two 145,000m3 LNG shuttle regasification vessels (SRVs) from Samsung Heavy Industries Limited (SHI). The SRVs will serve the Neptune deepwater port terminal, to be sited about 35km north east of Boston, Massachusetts, in 80m of water.
The orders were originally announced in July last year, subject to the proposed Neptune offshore LNG facility receiving a Deepwater Port License from the US Maritime Administration. The SUEZ-owned Neptune LNG LLC received the final licence issued by MARAD for the construction of the terminal on 23 March.
At the end of March, Höegh LNG and Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd (MOL) confirmed the signing of long-term time-charter parties for the two SRVs with SUEZ LNG Trading SA. The US$290 million ships were ordered by Höegh LNG on behalf of a 50/50 joint venture the Norwegian owner/operator has established with MOL. The vessels will be delivered in 2009 and 2010, and an option exists for a third ship.
"The approval of the Neptune project is a significant milestone for the Group,” said Kelvyn Derrick, chief executive of Hamworthy plc. “This project combines the very latest in gas technology with environmental and safety regulations to meet the ever increasing demand for natural gas from the US market. There is considerable interest in further offshore LNG terminal services being established, which will require LNG SRVs."
Based on a concept developed by Höegh in 2001, the SRVs are designed to to transport and store LNG, and then vaporise it into natural gas that can be sent ashore by underwater pipeline. Höegh LNG worked in close co-operation with Hamworthy.
The ships will moor at one of two unloading buoys connected to a sub-sea pipeline by a flexible riser, ensuring that the gas supply is not interrupted when one ship replaces another. The average send-out capacity of each SRV will be 400 million ft3 (11 million m3) per day with a peak capacity of approximately 750 million ft3 (21 million m3) per day. An SRV will typically moor for four to eight days, depending on the demand ashore.
Hamworthy will supply three regasification skids per ship. Each shipset will have a regasification capacity of 210 tonnes/hr of LNG with a send-out pressure of 115 bar.
The regasification process is based on technology developed by Hamworthy in close co-operation with Höegh. The regasification technology to be used on Neptune has been succesfully tested in a prototype test plant in Norway developed in a joint industry project by the two companies. The equipment is compact and designed to meet strict environmental standards.
