LNG

Seatrium of Singapore has renewed a long-term favoured customer contract with the liquefied natural gas fleets of Greek shipping line GasLog and for the LNG carriers operated by UK-based major Shell.

Seatrium said the accords with Gaslog and Shell International Trading and Shipping Co. (STASCO) provide for ship repairs, refurbishment and upgrading of LNG vessels from 2024 to 2029 with an option for a further renewal.

“This contract marks a collaborative partnership between Seatrium and these two leading maritime companies with whom the Group has established a long history of collaboration,” said a statement from Seatrium.

The Singaporean Seatrium Group was formerly called Sembcorp Marine Ltd and renamed as Seatrium following its merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine.

“The GasLog and Shell contracts involve the repairs, refurbishment and upgrading of a combined fleet of 43 LNG carriers docking at Seatrium Repairs and Upgrades, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seatrium,” noted the shipyards company.

Joint planning

“It also supports joint planning, information and experience sharing and leveraging complementary resources of the Group to achieve sustainable targets in health and safety and environmental quality, cost efficiency and timely deliveries,” the group added.

Kostas Karathanos, Chief Operating Officer of GasLog LNG Services, said that he was pleased with the contract renewal.

“We are delighted to renew our favoured customer agreement for another five years,” explained Karathanos.

“We have enjoyed many years of partnership to refit the majority of our fleet here and trusted Seatrium in the conversion of our floating storage regasification unit (FSRU),” Karathanos added in reference to the FSRU deployed off Alexandroupolis in northeast Greece.

Tender

“The recent tender we jointly ran with STASCO indicates that Seatrium remains a competitive shipyard offering high quality services,” the GasLog COO stated.

“This aligns with our strategic direction of optimising costs and leveraging our competitiveness,” said Karathanos. 

Alvin Gan, Executive Vice President for Repairs and Upgrades at Seatrium, said the accord with STASCO and GasLog enhanced the status of the shipyard group.

“The selection of Seatrium as the LNG refit partner in Singapore is a major boost to Singapore’s status as a major global hub,” the Seatrium executive said.

Seatrium is the world’s leader for LNG upgrades and the conversion of LNG carriers, holding an extensive track record of 11 FSRU conversions since 2007.

FSRU conversions are highly complex processes that involve extensive modifications to the vessel’s structure, systems and equipment.

Sembcorp Marine, the Singapore-based company specialising in offshore platforms and LNG projects such as conversions and the building of its first LNG-powered tugs, has entered into agreements to amend delivery dates for two ultra-deepwater drill-ships contracted to build for global operator Transocean.

Under the new agreements, which took into due consideration work disruptions arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, the delivery dates of the two vessels have been rescheduled to December 2021 for the first vessel, “Deepwater Atlas”, and May 2022 for the second vessel, “Deepwater Titan”.

Sempcorp said that Transocean had already paid 35 percent and 30 percent of the contract price for “Deepwater Atlas” and “Deepwater Titan” respectively.

The “Deepwater Atlas” contract will also entail, US$50 million payment to JSPL upon delivery, with the remaining sum of approximately US$370M payable in quarterly instalments with accrued interest within five years from the delivery date.

The “Deepwater Atlas” is expected to commence drilling operations on the Shenandoah project in the US Gulf of Mexico in the second half of 2022 for BOE Exploration and Productions LLC of the US.

The “Deepwater Titan” agreement will see Transocean pay JSPL 80 percent of the amount payable upon delivery, or around US$350M, and the remaining 20 percent, or around US$90M, will be payable in quarterly instalments with accrued interest within five years from the delivery date.

The “Deepwater Titan” is expected to commence drilling operations with Chevron USA Inc. in the first quarter of 2023.

The “Deepwater Atlas” and “Deepwater Titan” are the first set of next-generation drill-ships with ultra-deepwater drilling capability to be constructed in Singapore.

They are also the only drill-ships in the world with three million pound hook-load and capable of 20,000 psi drilling operations.

Sempcorp said the drill-ships are designed and equipped to optimise fuel consumption and reduce emissions, supporting the industry’s commitment to a reduction in carbon footprint.

“The completion of the amendment agreements is a significant step forward and underlines the collaborative spirit of all parties and their determination to see two drill-ships built to the highest specifications for ultra-deepwater deployment be put into operation,” said Wong Weng Sun, President and Chief Executive of Sembcorp Marine.

“In the face of challenges stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, Transocean has demonstrated understanding of the situation and confidence in Sembcorp Marine’s EPC capabilities to complete the two highly complex drill-ship projects,” declared the Sembcorp Marine CEO.

“Excluding these two drill-ships, Sembcorp Marine has delivered eight drilling rigs to Transocean,” added Wong.

The Singapore yard has also started construction of the first LNG harbour tug that will operate in the port of Singapore, on behalf of Jurong Marine Services, a subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine.

The supply contract calls for the construction of up to 12 similar tugs, because Jurong Marine Services plans to replace all of its diesel-powered tugs by 2025.

The tugs will use two 16-cylinder MTU 4000 series M55RN gas engines supplied by Rolls-Royce Power Systems, which will most likely be used for the rest of the series.

The first unit is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2021 and will have a bollard pulling power of around 65 tons, enough to handle container ships, oil tankers and LNG carriers that go to the port of Singapore.

The American Bureau of Shipping, the US maritime classification society, and Singapore-based Keppel Offshore and Marine said they were currently completing key features of the world’s first smart LNG bunkering vessel.