Hamworthy has secured a contract for the supply of regasification technology on board what are understood to be the world’s first newbuild Floating Storage and Regasification Units (FSRUs).
Two 170,000m3 storage capacity vessels, owned by Hoegh LNG, are being built at the world’s largest shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries. Under the terms of the contract, Hamworthy will deliver systems to the Ulsan-based yard, one apiece in December 2012 and February 2013. The floating regasification market is experiencing strong growth. On signing its letter of intent with HHI earlier this year, Hoegh projected annual growth in the LNG market overall of 6-7% over the coming few years.
The initial two FSRU ships will feature Hamworthy’s propane-seawater regasification system, which has already proven itself on board two Golar liquefied natural gas carriers in operation (in Brazil and Dubai) that have been converted into FSRUs. The same system will also be delivered as part of two new projects under construction in Indonesia and Malaysia. “We will deliver a complete regasification module for each FSRU, which will have slightly less in capacity and pressure than was the case for the Golar Winter project,” said Tore Lunde, Hamworthy Gas Systems’ Managing Director. “The units, which will weigh in at 550 tonnes and measure 20m by 18m by 10m, will be delivered in module form with all the necessary process equipment installed for ease of integration on board the vessels.”
Once installed Hamworthy will run all necessary mechanical and electrical tests within the module, so that the number of connections can be limited and hook-up can be relatively fast. Mr Lunde said: “One of the main benefits of our modular design is that we can install in parallel with the building of the main ship.”