LNG

The Ghana LNG import project in West Africa is expecting to complete the venture by around March 2021 with work now focused on the onshore portion after the floating regasification unit arrived off the Ghanaian coast from a Chinese shipyard.

Jiangnan Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corp., built the FRU and the vessel left the Chinese yard at the end of November 2020 for the voyage to African waters for deployment.

A venture called Access LNG comprising Helios Investment Partners, a leading Africa focused private investment firm, and Gasfin Development, an LNG infrastructure company, is developing the facility.

Helios established Tema LNG Terminal Co. (TLTC) to develop, construct and operate sub-Saharan Africa’s first LNG import terminal.

The companies involved now say that the Tema LNG terminal venture is expected to achieve mechanical completion by around March 2021 and thereafter plans would be made for the first cargo delivery.

Gasfin has led the design of the project and the fabrication of the floating infrastructure with capacity to deliver 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG.

The Tema project is designed around the FRU working in conjunction with an upgraded 127,500 cubic metres capacity LNG carrier, which will act as floating storage, to deliver 250 million standard cubic feet per day of gas.

The Tema project will also have bunkering, reloading and break-bulk capabilities.

The terminal will receive some LNG from Royal Dutch Shell under an agreement with Ghana National Petroleum Corp.

The TLTC project company said the other current priority was the mechanical completion of the onshore works, including an 8-kilometres pipeline and a gas conditioning station.

“We forecast mechanical completion for March and then we’ve got a commissioning period with more performance testing,” said the statement.

Spain’s Reganosa Servicios has the contract for the operational and maintenance (O&M) side of the FRU. The Spanish firm will also oversee the pipeline.

The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) committed to providing a US$31 million loan to Access LNG in November 2020, filling in the final part of the project and guaranteeing final finance.

The EAIF is backed for development financing by the governments of the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden and Switzerland as well as finance institutions, private banks and institutional investors.

It said $31M was being lent to the Access LNG project at Tema, near where several power stations are located and are switching from light cycle oil (LCO) and heavy fuel oil (HFO) to natural gas.

The fixed infrastructure portion of the project has been in the construction phase since 2018 and was funded under a separate financing package, covering a breakwater, mooring facilities, a subsea pipeline and the onshore pipeline to take the gas from the port to Tema’s industrial area.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology firm for designs of systems for the maritime transportation and storage of liquefied natural gas, has been chosen by Marseille-based shipping group CMA CGM to provide services for its LNG-powered container ships.

GTT said it would provide assistance for the commissioning, operation and maintenance of CMA CGM’s future 23,000 TFE (twenty-foot equivalent) LNG-powered container ships equipped with GTT membrane containment technologies. 

Paris-based GTT noted that with 18,600 cubic metres capacity LNG tanks, these ships will be the largest container ships in the world to use LNG as fuel.

Bunkering vessels owned by French energy major Total and Mitsui Osk Lines of Japan will supply 300,000 tonnes per annum of LNG fuel to CMA CGM and its nine ultra-large newbuild containerships set to operate on the Europe-Asia trade route.

The GTT service package includes the training of crews of the CMA CGM fleet through the provision of the G-Sim training simulator, specially adapted to replicate the LNG operations of CMA CGM vessels.

“GTT will also provide on board technical assistance during the commissioning of LNG tanks and during the first bunkering operations,” explained the tanks designer.

It explained that, if necessary, CMA CGM may use a GTT service called “Hears” to obtain 24/7 technical assistance. 

“Thanks to the data continuously collected on board, the GTT teams will be able to assist and advise CMA CGM teams as closely as possible,” said GTT.

“In addition, the analysis tools integrated in the connected version will allow a follow-up over time of the tanks and their insulation spaces,” it added.

The company said its GTT services portfolio facilitates a smooth entry into the world of LNG for ship-owners.

“We are constantly expanding our range of services to meet the new expectations of ship-owners and are therefore very pleased to be able to support CMA CGM in the commissioning, operation and maintenance of its LNG-powered vessels,”  said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

CMA CGM is one of the world’s largest container vessel operators with over 500 ships.

The first of the ultra-large LNG-power containerships took to the water at the Shanghai Jiangnan-Changxing Shipyard in October 2019 at an event attended by Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO of CMA CGM.

The first of the nine newbuilds was named “CMA CGM Jacques Saade” after the shipping line’s Beirut-born founder who died in June 2018.