Golar Winter, Golar’s newly converted FSRU, sets out from Keppel shipyard today. It’s Petrobras’ second FSRU and sister to Golar Spirit – both classed by DNV.
Petrobras’ second floating storage and regasificatoon unit (FSRU) is scheduled to leave Keppel shipyard in Singapore today en route for Brazil.
Speaking at the Gastech conference and exhibition in Abu Dhabi, Jan Koren, who heads DNV’s tanker business, said the vessel is expected to be stationed at Petrobras’s LNG import facility in Guananbara Bay off Rio De Janeiro.
“Golar Winter is the sister to Golar Spirit, which was commissioned in Brazil in April this year. It was the world’s first conversion of an LNG carrier to re-gasification unit and, as such, is an industry milestone,” says Koren.
Despite the current industry slowdown due to the global recession, Koren points out that “there is a more upbeat feel about regas projects since they offer possibilities for countries looking to quickly build up spare LNG supply.”
Golar plans to convert three more of its ships into FSRU’s. Last year, it contracted with Shell to convert its 126,000-cbm LNG carrier Golar Freeze into an FSRU for the Shell-backed Dubai LNG import project. The vessel is scheduled to go for conversion later this year in either Dubai or Singapore. The unit will start operations in April 2010. Golar’s 137,000-cbm Golar Frost is due to enter Dubai Drydocks this summer for conversion into the floating terminal that will serve the Livorno project off Italy.
All the units will carry DNV’s new class notation Regas-2 which applicable for continuous regas operations.
Today Jan Koren gave a presentation at Gastech on the increased use of LNG as fuel for marine and industrial applications – one response to the environmental challenge. Tomorrow Erik Skramstad, DNV’s LNG segment group leader, will chair the session entitled, ‘floating production facilities: hype or reality’
“In the wake of the already successful FPSO’s terminals, which have proven their suitability to develop both small and large fields, the LNG industry is know looking at offshore LNG production, regasification and import/export terminals. The session presents an excellent overview of today’s technologies available in the market,” says Skramstad.
