Chart posts solid results helped by LNG amid signals of strong future contributions from Howden acquisition
Chart Industries Inc., the liquefied natural gas equipment-maker and industrial gas technology company, posted first-quarter results helped by LNG orders and the signals of strong future results from the acquisition of UK group Howden.
LNG firm Linde Engineering to supply equipment for one of coldest places on earth under Swiss border
Linde Engineering, the German energy equipment supplier including for LNG, said its Linde Kryotechnik subsidiary had signed a contract to supply the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, with two identical helium cryogenic refrigeration systems.
The Pullach, Germany-based company has already supplied systems providing more than 50 percent of the refrigeration capacity required for CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The LHC is the most powerful particle accelerator ever built, allowing physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics.
The accelerator sits in a tunnel 100 metres underground at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
“CERN’s Large Hadron Collider is the largest cryogenic system in the world,” explained Lars Blum, Managing Director of Linde Kryotechnik.
“We have been delivering sophisticated refrigeration systems to CERN since 1986. To be selected for the most significant upgrade of the LHC since its start-up in 2008 speaks to our track record in reliable and efficient solutions, even in the most complex research environments,” stated Blum.
Capacities
The Linde company explained that each refrigeration system will have a capacity of 3.25 kilowatts at 1.9 Kelvin (-271 °C), which is close to absolute zero. The plants are required for a High-Luminosity upgrade to the LHC.
The LHC collides tiny particles of matter (protons) at an energy of 13.6 TeV (Tera electron Volt) center of mass in order to study the fundamental components of matter and the forces that bind them together.
“The upgraded LHC will make it possible to study these in more detail, increasing the number of collisions by a factor of between five and seven,” the company explained.
For each of the plants, Linde will deliver a compressor system, a surface cold box measuring 14 metres in length and 3.5 meters in diameter, an underground cold box with a length of seven metres and a diameter of 2.5 metres and a vacuum-insulated piping network to connect the two cold boxes.
The surface cold box will cool the helium to 4.5 Kelvin (-269 °C), and the second cold box about 90 metres underground will provide the required 1.9 Kelvin (-271 °C).
Linde will also be responsible for installation and final commissioning. The handover to CERN is scheduled for mid-2026.
Australian LNG producer Woodside Energy joint venture on offshore inspection pushes frontier of robotics
Woodside Energy, the Australian LNG plant operator and oil and gas company with offshore assets in Senegal and others in Canada and Trinidad after merging with BHP Petroleum, said a joint industry venture in Australia pushes frontier of robotics for offshore inspection.
LNG storage technology firm GTT names new CFO with energy transition and supermarket experience
French liquefied natural gas storage technology firm Gaztranzport and Technigaz (GTT) has named a new chief financial officer who once worked for France’s Casino Group mass-market retail supermarket chain.
GTT has appointed Virginie Aubagnac to the position of CFO after she joined GTT in April 2021 as Special Advisor to the Chairman.
Aubagnac takes the CFO helm from Marc Haestier, who leaves GTT to retire.
A graduate of HEC Paris, Aubagnac began her career in the Finance Department of Rallye SA, which owns a majority stake in the Casino Guichard-Perrachon supermarket group.
She then became project manager for the Deputy Managing Director of the same company.
Afterwards, she joined the Strategy and Planning Department of the Casino Group.
Then in 2008, she took part in the creation of GreenYellow, a company offering business-to-business solutions for the energy transition where she held the positions of Secretary General and CFO, then Managing Director in charge of finance from 2017 to 2020.
“This appointment strengthens the management team,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT, listed on the Paris Euronext exchange.
“Virginie Aubagnac’s vision of GTT group’s transformation and development, her rich experience, as well as her entrepreneurial spirit and managerial qualities, will fully contribute to the implementation of GTT’s strategic orientations,” stated Berterottière.
“On behalf of the Executive Committee, I would like to warmly thank Marc Haestier for his contribution to GTT group over the past four years,” added the CEO.
GTT’s most recent order was for fuel tank designs for five LNG-fuelled container vessels from South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries.
Each of the newbuilds will be able to carry 15,000 containers each, on behalf of the Asian ship-owner Seaspan, and will be operated by the Israeli shipping company ZIM.
The fuel tank of each vessel will offer a capacity of 12,000 cubic metres and will be fitted with the Mark III membrane containment system.
Vessels deliveries are scheduled to occur between the third quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
US LNG equipment-maker Air Products completes deal for Shell gasification technology
Air Products, the US maker of equipment for liquefied natural gas production and for industrial gas plants, said it had completed the acquisition of the Coal Gasification Technology licensing business from Shell Global Solutions.
UK-based LNG technology licensor files patent application for variant of liquefaction system
Gasconsult Ltd, the UK-based liquefied natural gas liquefaction technology licensor, said it had filed a patent application for a variant of its proprietary ZR-LNG liquefaction technology, eliminating the need for a carbon-dioxide removal unit as part of the feed gas pre-treatment train.
