LNG

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French designer of maritime liquefied natural gas storage and fuel tanks, has received another order from the Chinese Jiangnan shipyard as its busines in China gathers pace.

GTT said the latest order was for the cargo containment and cargo handling systems design fortwo large capacity LNG carriers.

As part of this order, GTT said it would provide the design and associated engineering services for the vessel’s tanks, which will each offer a capacity of 175,000 cubic metres.

The tanks will be fitted with the GTT Mark III Flex membrane containment system, a technology developed by GTT.

GTT added that the two vessels were scheduled for delivery in the first and second quarters of 2025.

“We are very pleased to accompany Jiangnan in a new phase of our collaboration, as these vessels are the first large LNG carriers to be built by Jiangnan shipyard,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

“We will do whatever it takes to make this cooperation a great success,” added the CEO.

LNG growth

The Jiangnan shipbuilding business is one of China's larger shipyard facilities and is located northeast of Shanghai on Changxing Island at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

In mid-March 2022, GTT received an order from the Jiangnan shipyard for tank designs for four very large LNG-powered containerships on order for the leading Asian shipping company, Pacific International Lines.

Each vessel will be able to carry 14,000 20-feet equivalent units (TUE) containers and are scheduled to be delivered from the Chinese yard progressively from the second-half of 2024 through to the first half of 2025.

The LNG fuel tank of each vessel will offer a capacity of 13,800 cubic metres and will be fitted with the Mark III membrane containment system.

The tanks will also include unique features to facilitate a potential conversion of these vessels to ammonia fuel in the future.

In addition to the engineering services and on-site technical assistance, GTT explained that t would assist PIL through every step of their first LNG-fuelled project.

GTT said this would include commissioning of the LNG tanks, first LNG bunkering operations, as well as further specific LNG operations and maintenance of the vessels.

Gaztransport and Technigaz, the French technology designer of LNG maritime and onshore storage systems, has received and order for China’s largest ever LNG storage tanks for the Nangang import terminal proposed for Tianjin City, east of Beijing.

GTT said it order came from the building company China Huanqiu Contracting & Engineering Co. (HQC) for the design of two membrane full-containment LNG tanks, each with net capacity of 220,000 cubic metres.

This LNG tanks order follows a preliminary agreement signed in November 2019 between GTT and the Chinese state-owned company Beijing Enterprises Group in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The Nangang terminal is being developed by Beijing Gas and will give the Tianjin port city area three import facilities to guarantee energy supply security to the Chinese capital.

The terminal will have an initial 5 million tonnes per annum of capacity and adds to the supply available from Sinopec’s Tianjin North import terminal and the Floating Storage and Regasification Unit capacity deployed in recent years by China National Offshore Oil Corp.

“We are honoured that the project promoted by HQC, proposing our technology, has been awarded,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

“GTT is proud to contribute in the technological partnership between France and China,” he added.

The company said that it would design these membrane tanks which will be fitted with the GST technology developed by GTT.

“The onshore storage tanks will be located in the Tianjin south port Industrial Zone and are expected to be commissioned during the last quarter of 2022,” explained GTT.

HQC Chairwoman Wang Xinge said GTT had given full support to her company for the building of the first and largest GTT full-containment tanks in China.

“We are proud to have been awarded this project and to lead the innovation in China together with Beijing Gas and GTT,” she stated.

With a population of around 113 million, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is one of the most important economic engines within China and has increasing natural gas demand.

It is also an area where the Chinese government has concentrated its “Blue Skies” policy to reducing coal consumption will also deliver the co-benefit of improving air quality.

Beijing Gas is mainly engaged in city-gas distribution and supplies more than 10 billion cubic metres per annum to the Chinese capital and surrounding areas.

The new Tianjin terminal project has already been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission.

Beijing Gas said its terminal in Tianjin was expected to be completed by 2022 and would include emergency reserves comprising 10 extra storage tanks.

There would also be a pipeline of 230 kilometres to send regasified LNG supplies to gas storage facilities near Beijing.

Gaztransport and Technigaz, the French technology designer of LNG maritime and onshore storage systems, has received an order for the tanks to equip the floating storage and regasification unit to be deployed as Germany’s first LNG import terminal at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven.

GTT’s order comes from the South Korean shipyard, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering on behalf of the Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), the owner and operator of the ship.

The FSRU will have a capacity of 263,000 cubic metres and will be fitted with the No. 96 membrane cryogenic containment system, a technology developed by GTT.

The vessel delivery is scheduled for 2023 when it will be deployed at Wilhelmshaven.

“We are delighted to be working with DSME and MOL, two very long-term partners, on this new very large capacity FSRU project,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

MOL and a subsidiary of the German utility Uniper signed a contract in May 2020 to build and charter the FSRU.

The FSRU constitutes the heart of the future terminal and will make it possible to offload, store and regasify LNG for the German market.

It will be moored off the coast not far from Wilhelmshaven and will handle incoming LNG tankers there.

Wilhelmshaven is one of two LNG import terminals being planned by Germany.

The  second is an onshore facility at Brunsbüttel, a port on the Elbe River, south of Hamburg.

The regasified natural gas from the Wilhelmshaven FSRU will be transported along a short connecting pipeline under the sea to the port facilities and be fed into the German gas transmission network.

Wilhelmshaven is Germany's only deep-sea port and has the optimal infrastructure for offloading LNG tankers of all sizes.

Uniper has said it expected that a competitive tender process would be conducted in the months ahead to seek binding accords with potential customers.