LNG

Chiyoda Corp., the leading Japanese energy and LNG engineering company, has been awarded a technical service agreement (TSA) by the Indonesian Donggi-Senoro LNG project, the all-Asian venture whose largest shareholder is Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.

“The agreement covers engineering, technology, and process safety support for the LNG plant and is scheduled to be carried out for three years,” said Chiyoda.

The LNG plant produces around 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG and has long-term contracts with Japanese and South Korean buyers.

Chiyoda said its Operations & Maintenance (O&M) division established at the start of 2023 would take the lead in providing the services.

The contract will also make use of Chiyoda’s consulting and engineering capabilities as a part of the plant-OSTM Services.

Service-focused

Chiyoda noted that this service was set up in September 2023 to offer field-centred physical maintenance support for industrial plants with “inherent digital technologies affording to the customer deep insight” into the plant status.

Production at Donggi-Senoro LNG commenced in August 2015 and the plant has been operating at a high rate since its start-up.

The facilities liquefy and export feed gas from the Senoro-Toili block and the Matindok block onshore gas fields in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province.

Mitsubishi owns around 45 percent of the Donggi-Senoro joint venture and the other partners are Korea Gas Corp., the Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and Indonesia’s largest publicly-listed energy company Medco.

When Donggi-Senoro started it was the first LNG project exclusively owned and operated by Asian companies without the participation of international oil majors.

However, Mitsubishi is now one of Japan’s leading LNG stakeholders with assets and supplies from North America, including LNG Canada, Malaysia, Brunei, Australia and Russia.

The Donggi-Senoro customers are Japanese utility giant JERA Co. Inc., which takes delivery of 1 MTPA, Kogas with 700,000 tonnes per annum and Japan’s Kyushu Electric Power contracted for 300,000 tonnes per annum.

Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina is preparing to acquire Shell’s stake in the Masela natural gas block that will underpin the Abadi LNG export project in Indonesia and boost future cargo availability in the Pacific Basin, while Shell is also selling all its assets in Pakistan in a pull-out from Asia's more difficult areas to do business.

Royal Vopak of the Netherlands, the world’s leading independent tank storage company and LNG terminals shareholder, said it aimed to take a 50 percent stake in the floating LNG project at the Dutch port of Eemshaven though was pulling out of an LNG terminal venture in Hong Kong.

Vopak said it had agreed to acquire a 50 percent stake in the Eemshaven project from Dutch utility Gasunie.

“This transaction will be subject to a number of conditions, including the approval from the competition authorities. The transaction is targeted to be completed at the latest by 1 October 2023,” Vopak said.

The EemsEnergyTerminal is an LNG import terminal located in the seaport of the province of Groningen.

“Gasunie developed this new floating LNG terminal in the Eemshaven area in response to gas supply insecurities and a desire to reduce the dependency on Russian gas,” Vopak explained.

Vopak has additionally decided to no longer pursue the acquisition of a 49.99 percent stake in a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) owned by Japanese shipping company Mitsui Osk Lines and deployed in Hong Kong.

FSRU plans

“Vopak has been working with MOL for developing and commissioning the Hong Kong FSRU LNG terminal, and Vopak has contributed much to the establishment of a reliable system for the operation and maintenance of the terminal,” Vopak stated.

“Although the commercial start is expected later this year, the delay of the project has resulted in reduced attractiveness and made Vopak decide not to make use of the share right,” it added.

Vopak said it would remain involved in the commissioning of the terminal and would continue to provide support to the operation of the terminal as required.

The Eemshaven LNG facility has been operational since September 2022 and has a regasification capacity of 8 billion cubic metres per year. 

It comprises two FSRUs, the “Energos Igloo” and an FSRU barge built in China for Belgian shipping company Exmar.

Vopak said that the partners would explore ways of increasing capacity further.

Vopak and Gasunie are also partners in the main Dutch LNG import terminal, the onshore Gate facility at the port of Rotterdam.

Dutch security

“This agreement highlights the commitment of Gasunie and Vopak to jointly develop and operate open access LNG infrastructure in the Netherlands and to contribute to the energy security of Europe,” the statement added.

Ulco Vermeulen, director of business development at Gasunie, said he was pleased with Vopak’s decision to become a co-shareholder in EemsEnergyTerminal.

“By pooling our knowledge and experience we will offer a unique and reliable LNG import solution,” Vermeulen added.

Walter Moone, president New Energies and LNG at Vopak, said he was keen to build on the existing successful partnership with Gasunie.

“This fits very well with Vopak’s strategy to grow in LNG infrastructure and accelerate towards new energies,” Moone explained.

“We are proud to develop and operate reliable and open access infrastructure as this plays an important role both in the security of energy as well as in the energy transition,” added Moone.

The American Bureau of Shipping, the US maritime classification society, has granted approval for an innovative concept for floating liquefied natural gas projects to use storage tanks from older LNG carriers.

The FLNG design was jointly developed by two Japanese companies, the shipping line Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-LINE) and LNG and energy engineer JGC Corp.

ABS awarded an approval in principle (AIP) for the joint project which was also supported by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

The design essentially involves transferring and reusing LNG storage tanks from spherical Moss-type LNG carriers into the hulls of new FLNG facilities.

By re-using existing LNG vessels and their Type B storage tanks, the potential number of shipyards globally able to build FLNG units is increased.

The new Japanese design if it moves to production would support the forecast increase in demand for fast-track FLNG solutions.

“In many areas of the world, FLNG represents a potential solution to the challenge of meeting increasing demand for natural gas without the need for an export pipeline to shore and the associated infrastructure,” explained Tor Ivar Guttulsrod, the ABS Director for FLNG and FSRU vessels.

“ABS is committed to supporting development of FLNG globally while retaining a laser focus on safety,” stated Guttulsrod.

Expertise

Satoshi Kanamori, an Executive Officer at K-Line, said the design had potential to leverage shipping expertise and existing LNG assets.

“K-LINE will continue to make relentless efforts and generate new values to meet the diversifying needs of our customers,” added Kanamori.

JGC executive Hiroyuki Ishizaki agreed with the K-Line assessment as it was based on technical capabilities accumulated in FLNG and engineering, procurement and construction projects.

“This results in the enhancement of the customer's FLNG business since it is potentially an optimized CAPEX solution. JGC will continue to develop FLNG technologies for open seas and nearshore,” added Ishizaki. 

A production ramp-up at Australia’s second-largest export project, Gorgon LNG on Barrow Island in Western Australia, as well as more shipments from the new Wheatstone plant have taken the nation closer to overtaking Qatar to become the world’s No. 1 exporter.

Inpex Corp, the Japanese energy company, said its Ichthys LNG export project in Australia’s Northern Territory completed the commissioning of the offshore Central Processing Facility, opening the way for the start of production at the US$37 billion joint venture, now more than 18 months behind scheduled.