Judy Maksoud • Houston
The Izar Fene Shipyard has launched the platform that will support a natural gas liquefaction plant in Hammerfest, Norway. Following the launch, the platform will be moored in the Spanish shipyard and will undergo hydraulic testing before delivery.
Izar's recently launched platform will support an LNG plant in Norway.
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The LNG plant in Norway will be an integral part of the development of the offshore natural gas fields of Albatross, Askeladden, and Snøhvit in the Barents Sea. Gas will be transported through a submarine pipeline to Melkøya Island, where it will be treated and exported as LNG.
The platform is 154 m long, with a 54-m beam, and weighs 10,000 metric tons. It is built of highly elastic steel and has been designed to operate for 50 years.
In mid August, Izar Puerto Real shipyard launched a 138,000-cu-m LNG carrier, the keel for which was laid in September of last year.
The vessel is 284.4 m long, 42.5 m wide, and 25.4 m deep, with a draft of 11.4 m. It is outfitted with two GPH 500-1224 cranes that can lift 12 metric tons at 24 m, two GPS 320-1218 cranes capable of lifting 12 metric tons at 18 m, and one GPS 40-0210 crane that can lift 2 metric tons at 10 m. The vessel is outfitted with four double-membrane tanks that will be used to contain the LNG.
According to Izar, the company is the only European shipyard that has LNG units under construction and is among the few in the world capable of designing and building these kinds of vessels.
Second LNG-powered vessel for Statoil
In mid August, Statoil took delivery of the second of two supply ships fueled by LNG.
The Stril Pioner will be chartered to Statoil for 10 years.
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The Stril Pioner and Viking Energy are to be chartered by Statoil for 10 years.
Fueling with LNG provides a considerable reduction in emissions of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. The two vessels will emit about 400 metric tons less in nitrogen oxides per year than comparable ships running on diesel engines.
The supply ships will be used mainly in Statoil's operations in the Tampen area of the North Sea.
The vessels were built by Kleven Verft at Ulsteinvik in western Norway. Møkster Shipping owns and will operate Stril Pioner.
The ships will together consume about 7,000 metric tons of LNG per year.
FSO for Gulf of Thailand
Canada's Teekay Shipping Corp. has signed a contract to provide a floating storage offloading unit to Unocal Thailand for 10 years, with options to extend the term to 15 years.
Teekay will convert the 1988-built Aframax tanker M.T. Namsan Spirit, at Keppel Shipyard in Singapore in preparation for delivery into the Unocal crude oil development project in the Gulf of Thailand, where oil will be produced from the Kaphong, Plamuk, Platong, Surat, and Yala fields. The new vessel will replace the tanker Sibeia, which is now storing crude produced from the fields.
Teekay has contracted with SBM-Imodco Inc. to provide a single-point turret mooring system to be integrated into the hull. The vessel will have 850,000-bbl storage capacity.
The FSO, to be renamed Pattani Spirit, is scheduled for installation in April 2004.
Production begins off South Africa
The FPSO Glas Dowr began production of the Sable field off South Africa in early August. Prior to commissioning, the Glas Dowr's production and processing facilities were upgraded and modified in a Cape Town-based construction yard.
The Glas Dowr leaves Cape Town harbor en route to the Sable field.
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Technip France designed and installed the subsea facilities at the Sable field, including all production risers and umbilicals, in-field flow lines, and associated equipment, and carried out vessel installation and hook-up.
Bluewater expects to operate the FPSO, shuttle tanker, and subsea equipment for the duration of the Sable field's productive life. The term of the service agreement is 10 years, unless terminated earlier, with a minimum term of three years.
Sable field is in the Bredasdorp basin offshore South Africa about 150 km southwest of Mossel Bay. Field operators are PetroSA Pty. Ltd. and Pioneer Natural Resources South Africa Pty. Ltd.
