First Wärtsilä Deliveries of LNG-Fueled Engines For Offshore Vessels

Wärtsilä Corporation has received a contract to deliver eight dual-fuel engines to two offshore supply vessels. These will be the first offshore vessels using gas as a fuel. The vessels will be built at Kleven Verft A/S in Norway. Wärtsilä 32DF engines will run on liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Using gas as a fuel has environmental benefits; it burns very cleanly and NOx emissions diminish to one-tenth of those of the standard diesel version. The combination of the engine's low fuel consumption and its maximum use of natural gas means the Wärtsilä 32DF also has low CO2 emissions.

Dual-fuel engines can be run simultaneously on natural gas and diesel oil, and can be switched over from gas to liquid fuel automatically, should the gas supply be interrupted, while continuing to deliver full power.

The two vessels have been ordered by the Norwegian owners Eidesvik AS and Simon Møkster Shipping AS. When delivered in 2003, the vessels will operate as supply vessels for oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.