LNG

Oct 6 (LNGJ) - Ascenz Marorka, the smart-shipping brand of France’s GTT Group, announced the launch of its Real-Time Fleet Performance Monitoring Centre allowing ship-owners, charterers and ship managers to continuously monitor and optimise the performance of their vessels, enabling them to make real-time decisions and react quickly to operational challenges.

   “Bringing together a team of maritime experts with in-depth knowledge in navigation, meteorology, vessel performance management, LNG operations and offshore operations, the centre ensures a holistic approach to optimise fleet operations and help achieve maximum efficiency and excellence,” said Ascenz Marorka with operational offices in Singapore, Iceland and St-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, southwest of Paris.

Flogas Britain, a leading UK supplier of LNG by truck, is also continuing to be a top shipper of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and has just been granted planning permission to construct a gas pipeline from Bristol Port in southwest England into the nation’s largest above-ground LPG storage terminal at nearby Avonmouth.

Despite LPG not being as clean a fuel as LNG, the global annual LPG market is still growing on a global basis.

Trade statistics show that LPG’s global market revenue was valued at around $134 billion in 2021 and is forecast to grow and to be worth over $177Bln a year through 2028 with a compound annual growth rate of 4.8 percent.

The largest UK LNG import destination is Milford Haven in Wales and it also imports LPG in smaller vessels than the huge LNG carriers arriving at the South Hook and Dragon terminals.

The next scheduled LPG delivery at Milford Haven is on October 19 on board the 38,950 cubic metres capacity LPG tanker, the “Hourai Maru”, and sourced from the Norwegian refinery at Mongstad, according to shipping data.

Largest in UK

The Flogas Avonmouth Storage facility is the largest of its kind in the UK, with the capacity to store 34,564 tonnes of LPG.

Formerly owned by National Grid Plc, operator of the Grain LNG terminal near London, the Avonmouth facility was previously only able to store LNG. However, work is currently underway to convert it to an LPG facility.

“Running safely underground and out of site, the twin-pipeline will vastly increase the availability of LPG, enabling up to 20,000 tonnes of commodity to be safely and securely discharged from a ship in 24 hours,” explained Flogas.

Flogas said that once complete, the LPG pipeline would link the UK to a diverse, global supply of off-grid gas, providing security of supply and enhancing affordability for off-grid commercial and residential customers.

Flogas, a subsidiary of DCC Plc, said that with the planning permission now in place, the company was talking to potential partners from across the entire supply chain who want to join Flogas in creating a dependable off-grid fuel supply for the UK.

Off-grid role

Flogas notes that LPG was still the cleanest, most efficient conventional off-grid fuel available, and those transitioning from oil will benefit from significant carbon savings and improved air quality, as it emits far fewer pollutant emissions.

“The granting of planning permission is the final piece in the jigsaw for this ground-breaking project, as we already have the Avonmouth storage facility and agreement in principle from Bristol Port and landowners for the pipeline route,” said Flogas Managing Director Lee Gannon.

“This means we’re now perfectly placed to start talking to prospective partners from across the supply chain who want to join us in this venture,” added Gannon.

“Avonmouth offers an excellent collaborative opportunity, one that will provide important access to the global market and enhance security of supply to our off-grid customers,” he stated.

Gannon added that the next phase of design was currently underway and with completion of construction potentially seen as early as 2025.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French designer of LNG storage tanks for ships and for onshore, has chosen the Gastech Conference in Milan to launch a new corporate image and logo to reflect its clean-fuel role and broadening activities in storage and smart shipping.

Thailand’s new Nong Fab LNG regasification terminal in Rayong province, the nation’s second import facility, has received first volumes of LNG for commissioning and is on track for full commercial start-up in 2022.

PTT Group, the national energy company of Thailand, is behind the Nong Fab project.

PTT is expanding regasification capacity and LNG imports after completing several expansions at the single existing Thai import terminal at Map Ta Phut, which can now handle 11.5 million tonnes per annum.

The Nong Fab terminal is adjacent to the Map Ta Phut industrial area in Rayong and will have total regasification capacity of 7.5 MTPA.

Thailand has opted for the more permanent onshore LNG terminals rather that a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), seen mainly as a fast-track energy solution.

The new terminal is currently being completed by Italian energy engineering firm, Saipem, and Taiwan-based CTCI Corp.

Saipem and CTCI were awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the facility four years ago and with an estimated cost of around $900 million.

Experienced

It was Milan-based Saipem who announced the first volumes of LNG being introduced into the Nong Fab facility. The company is one of the world's most experienced LNG engineering firms with expertise in subsea, liquefaction and regasification projects.

“Saipem is pleased to inform that on 18 June the Nong Fab LNG regasification terminal, located in the Mueang Rayong district in Thailand and executed by Saipem in a joint venture with its partner CTCI, began offloading the first LNG from a carrier moored at the terminal jetty,” said the Saipem statement.

Saipem added that the scope of the work for the project, which began in July 2018, included two 250,000 cubic metres capacity LNG storage tanks, the regasification and pipeline eqipment and a six-kilometre trestle unloading facility as well as an administrative building.

“It is a particularly significant project which is marked by its tank capacity (the largest ever executed in Thailand) and by the world’s largest trestle in the LNG sector,” explained Saipem.

“The offloading of the first LNG was achieved thanks to the expertise, quality and efforts of Saipem’s team in Thailand as well as the strong support of the client, PTT LNG,” the company added.

Saipem stated that full commissioning and start-up were expected before year-end and would provide the country with a stable and reliable energy supply in response to increasing power demand in Thailand.

“The project, confirms Saipem’s role in the LNG and regasification sectors, thanks to its long-standing expertise in complex projects, which are always executed applying the highest safety standards,” Saipem declared.

June 24 (LNGJ) - French LNG storage tanks technology company GTT has received an order from the shipyard in China of Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co (DSIC) for the design of two LNG carrier membrane tanks for CMES LNG Carrier Investment Inc. GTT said this was its first project for the construction of an LNG carrier at the Dalian yard.

   “These two LNG carriers will each have a total LNG tank capacity of 175,000 cubic metres and will be fitted with the Mark III Flex membrane containment system developed by GTT,” said the Paris-based firm. The deliveries of the vessels are scheduled for the third quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.

France's Entrepose Contracting, a unit of Vinci Construction Grands Projets and the UK’s Taylor Woodrow, has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction contract by the UK’s National Grid to build a liquefied natural gas storage tank to serve the import terminal for London.

Jan 15 (LNGJ) - French LNG storage tank technology company GTT has obtained approval in principle from France-based classification society Bureau Veritas for GTT’s No. 96 membrane containment system for LNG fuel tank applications for Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs) . “GTT and BV reviewed the compatibility and safe integration of the No. 96 technology as an LNG fuel tank in a container vessel hull,” said GTT.

   Over the course of the study, a liquid motion assessment of the tank configuration was performed. “We are pleased to receive this new Approval in Principle which allows GTT to offer increasingly competitive solutions that meet the requirements of the LNG market as a marine fuel. This will enable all our licensees to offer membrane solutions to this market,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology firm and designer of liquefied natural gas storage tanks, said it received two orders for the tank designs for four Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs), which will benefit from the “LNG cargo ready” notation.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology firm and designer of liquefied natural gas storage tanks, has been awarded a contract by the US Department of Defense to upgrade a military fuel storage facility featuring 20 steel-lined underground tanks with capacity up to 250 million gallons connected to fuelling piers at Pearl Harbor.

Under the agreement, GTT will work with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the US Navy to develop a solution to convert the existing tanks to double-wall containment at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

“GTT engineers will use the company’s expertise in advanced tank containment system technologies, acquired over the past 60 years in the shipping and land storage of LNG under cryogenic conditions, to design a continuously monitored membrane barrier system that will extend the useful life of the tanks, originally built in the 1940s,” GTT explained.

“This award comes to GTT after a competitive source selection strategy launched last Spring by DIU,” said the French company.

GTT said the rigorous tender process was aimed at facilitating innovative technologies from the commercial sector that meet requirements, close capability gaps or provide potential technological advances to support the mission of the US Armed Forces.

“We are proud and honoured to have been retained by the US Department of Defense to assist them in extending the longevity of the Red Hill facility, recognized as both a Civil Engineering Landmark and a strategic asset to US Navy operations in the Pacific,” stated Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

“This contract is in line with our large capacity energy storage activities and clearly demonstrates our commitment to innovation beyond our traditional cryogenic business,” added Berterottière.

“Our goal is to contribute our technological and innovation capabilities to the sustainable preservation of Hawaii’s groundwater resources,” said the CEO.

In its traditional LNG market, GTT announced in early September 2020 that it had received an order from two South Korean shipyards for tank designs for six LNG carriers for Asian and European owners.

GTT said two of the newbuilds would be constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries on behalf of a European shipping line.

The other four vessels will be built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, two on behalf of an Asian ship-owner and two for a European ship-owner.

Each vessel of the six on order will have a capacity of 174,000 cubic metres.

GTT said the ships would be fitted with the Mark III Flex membrane containment system.

The delivery dates for all six carrier are scheduled between the second and final quarters of 2023. 

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology designer of LNG maritime and onshore storage systems, reported a 74 percent rise in first-quarter revenues as orders were solid and it began expanding its services offerings.