Singapore: Petrobras' second floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) yesterday left Keppel shipyard. The vessel, classed by DNV, is to be stationed at Petrobras's LNG import facility in Guananbara Bay off Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.
"Golar Winter is the sister to Golar Spirit, which was commissioned in Brazil in April this year. It was the world's first conversion of an LNG carrier to re-gasification unit and, as such, is an industry milestone," says Jan Koren, who heads DNV's tanker business.
Despite the current industry slowdown due to the global recession, Koren points out that "there is a more upbeat feel about regas projects since they offer possibilities for countries looking to quickly build up spare LNG supply."
Golar plans to convert three more of its ships into FSRU's. Last year, it contracted with Shell to convert its 126,000-cbm LNG carrier Golar Freeze into an FSRU for the Shell-backed Dubai LNG import project. The vessel is scheduled to go for conversion later this year in either Singapore or Dubai. The unit will start operations in April 2010. Golar's 137,000-cbm Golar Frost is due to enter Dubai Drydocks this summer for conversion into the floating terminal that will serve the Livorno project off Italy.
All the units will carry DNV's new class notation Regas-2 which applicable for continuous regas operations. [28/05/09]
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