Neil Mcgregor News

Singapore’s shipyards are looking to recent investments in capacity, design and newly acquired technology to combat order declines after a decades-long offshore buildup. Sembcorp and peer Keppel are making the most of partnerships in FLNG and showing signs they’ll be okay through the downturn, helped by their gas-hungry Australasian backyard and renewed ties with old charterer parties and suppliers. With drilling contractors unable to pay for the offshore rigs they’ve ordered, Singapore’s heavyweight yards have had to defer deliveries and become defacto rig owners.

Singapore LNG Corporation (SLNG) has performed its first vessel cool-down service, following an agreement signed with Malaysian shipping company MISC. This is the first agreement for vessel cool-down services that SLNG has entered into, and the first cool-down was performed on one of MISC's LNG ships, the Seri Bakti. SLNG began commercial operations on May 7, 2013 and has since been providing throughput services for LNG ships transporting LNG in tanks under cryogenic temperatures (around -160C). 'Cool-down' is an operation to pre-cool cargo tanks and lines required before taking on cryogenic LNG. Cargo tank cool down is carried out by spraying LNG through the spray nozzles of each cargo tank, using LNG received from the shore terminal.