LNG

Swiss company Burckhardt Compression, a specialist provider of LNG sector equipment and energy industry technology, has increased annual profits and sales to record levels as the order intake surged to the equivalent of US$1.4 billion from rising demand to meet the energy transition.

Swiss company Burckhardt Compression, a specialist provider of LNG sector equipment and energy industry technology, reported a 44 percent higher order intake of 976.6 million Swiss francs ($1 billion) in the past fiscal year as global LNG and industrial energy activities increased.

Swiss company Burckhardt Compression, a specialist provider of LNG sector equipment and technology, said its Chinese subsidiary, Shenyang Yuanda Compressor Co., has signed a contract with China’s Sinopec Guangzhou Engineering to supply three skid-mounted hydrogen compressors for a major project.

Swiss LNG-equipment firm Burckhardt Compression has strengthened its service business in the maritime and petrochemical industry with expansion into the LNG port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Burckhardt said it signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of  the shares in Mark van Schaick BV.

“The company has more than 20 years of experience in machining and is a leader in servicing complex repairs such as crankshafts,” explained Winterthur-based Burckhardt.

Burckhardt said that last year the Mark van Schaick company recorded sales of about 9 million Swiss francs ($9.8M) with 27 employees.

“With the acquisition of Mark van Schaick BV, Burckhardt specifically complements its repair and service capabilities in Europe and further expands its presence in the service business for reciprocating compressors,” stated the company.

“Burckhardt hereby also gains highly specialized machining expertise and repair capabilities for the global customer base in the maritime and petrochemical industry,” it added.

“In line with our strategic ambitions, we strengthen our repair and machining capabilities with highly specialized know-how to serve our customers as full-service provider,” declared Marcel Pawlicek, Chief Executive of Burckhardt.

Burckhardt added that both parties had agreed not to disclose the purchase price. Closing is expected within the next few weeks.

Burckhardt itself reported a rise in fiscal first-half operating income as sales surged and earnings per share jumped.

Burckhardt reported “significantly higher’ order intake of 450.7 million Swiss francs ($493.5M), up 48.7 percent from 303M francs ($332M) in the year-ago period.

One of Burckhardt’s key new products in the LNG shipping sector is its Laby GI Compressor type LP250, the world’s first oil-free reciprocating high-pressure fuel-gas compressor in service.

Burckhardt’s fuel-gas compressor system plays an important role on LNG carriers to help maximise fuel efficiency.

In addition to its Swiss operations, Burckhardt has expanded in recent years to run businesses in the US, Japan and China.

Burckhardt gave a qualified outlook for fiscal 2021 as a whole and currently expects group sales of between 620M Swiss francs to 650M Swiss francs and higher profit margins.

This assumed that there would be no further serious outbreaks of Covid-19 in markets relevant to Burckhardt and that the global economy continued to recover.

Burckhardt Compression, the Swiss-based LNG equipment-maker for LNG shipping and compressor equipment for other sectors, reported a rise in fiscal first-half operating income as sales gathered pace and earnings per share increased. 

Burckhardt reported “significantly higher’ order intake of 450.7 million Swiss francs ($493.5M), up 48.7 percent from 303M francs ($332M) in the year-ago period with the Systems Division posting a 78 percent rise in sales and the Services Division reporting an 11.2 percent increase.

Operating income (EBIT) at Group level increased to 26.3 million francs compared with 26M francs in the prior-year period.

Net profits at the Winterthur, Central Switzerland-based company were slightly lower at 17.9M francs versus 19M francs in the first-half of 2020.

“The reasons for this are higher financial expenses resulting from a 100M Swiss francs bond issued in September 2020 as well as currency effects,” added Burckhardt.

Earnings per share attributable to Burckhardt shareholders increased significantly from 4.73 francs to 5.25 francs.

One of Burckhardt’s key new products in the LNG shipping sector is its Laby GI Compressor type LP250, the world’s first oil-free reciprocating high-pressure fuel-gas compressor in service.

Burckhardt’s fuel-gas compressor system plays an important role on LNG carriers to help maximise fuel efficiency.

Expansion

In addition to its Swiss operations, Burckhardt has expanded in recent years to run businesses in the US, Japan and China.

“Markets continued to recover in the wake of the various lockdowns imposed in all parts of the world during last year,” said Burckhardt.

“Asian markets, especially China, but also Central Asia, continued to recover. The European business regained momentum as well, leading to some attractive orders,” the company added.

“The US investment climate was still weak in the markets relevant to us, except for clean fuel technologies,” stated Burckhardt.

Burckhardt gave a qualified outlook for fiscal 2021 as a whole and currently expects group sales of between 620M francs to 650M francs and higher profit margins.

“This assumes that there will be no further serious outbreaks of Covid-19 in markets relevant to Burckhardt and that the economy continues to recover,” the company concluded. 

Burckhardt Compression, the Swiss-based LNG equipment maker for LNG shipping, said its oil-free, high-pressure compressor had highlighted its operational effectiveness on an LNG carrier. 

The Winterthur-based company said its Laby GI Compressor type LP250, the world’s first oil-free reciprocating high-pressure fuel-gas compressor in service, reached 10,000 hours of uninterrupted operations.

The compressor system is installed on an LNG carrier with capacity of 174,000 cubic metres.

Burckhardt notes that it is the only manufacturer able to compress gas to 300 bar in a large, ring-sealed compressor system without cylinder lubrication.

In addition to its Swiss operations, Burckhardt has expanded in recent years to run compressor and service businesses in the US, Japan and China.

Burckhardt said its Laby GI fuel-gas compressor system plays an important role on LNG carriers to help maximise fuel efficiency.

“As the liquified natural gas warms up during storage and transportation, the evaporated boil-off gas must be economically managed by either using it as fuel or re-liquefying it,” the company explained.

“Both, dual-fuel engines as well as re-liquefaction plants, require a certain operation pressure, ranging up to 300 bar,” it added.

“Therefore, Burckhardt’s LNG solutions have been specifically designed to handle gases at low temperature and high pressure while meeting the requirements for operation at sea,” noted the company.

Burckhardt's five-stage fuel gas compressor system is designed to manage the vessel’s boil-off gas with a flow of up to 4’700 kg/h.

The company pointed out that dry-running sealing technology saved significant expenditure for cylinder lubrication and filter maintenance.

“The performance of the high-pressure re-liquefaction system is improved due to the absence of fouling caused by small traces of residual oil carried within the gas,” it said.

The oil-free gas compression completely removes the need for oil separation and gas filtration technology and guarantees the cleanliness of the heat exchanger in the high-pressure re-liquefaction system.

In addition, maintenance intervals for the oil-free, high-pressure sealing technology are confirmed to reach 8,000 operating hours.

At the start of 2021, Burckhardt signed a final contract agreeing to acquire the 40 percent of Chinese company Shenyang Yuanda Compressor it didn’t already own.

The contract meant the Swiss firm owned all of the Shenyang Yuanda Compressor company based in Shenyang in the northeast Liaoning Province of China.

The company had owned 60 percent of Shenyang Yuanda Compressor since May 2016.

Burckhardt had previously taken a stake in US firm Arkos Field Services and the business was fully acquired in November 2019.

It additionally completed a deal in April 2020 to acquire the global compressor business of Japan Steel Works Ltd.