An LNG carrier controlled by clients of Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T) is poised to go into Drydocks World in Dubai for conversion to a floating storage unit (FSU) for Russia’s Portovaya LNG plant.
Industry sources said the 138,107-cbm Excel (built 2003) will shortly head to Dubai from Keppel Shipyard, where it has been lying idle for several months. Two other Asian shipyards had bid on the job.
The 15-year-old, membrane-type vessel will undergo life extension work and will have steel plate changed to strengthen its hull to allow it to work in ice.
The FSU will be capable of loading and discharging simultaneously and is being designed to remain onsite for 20 years.
The work is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2019. Earlier plans had indicated that the FSU would be in position this year.
GM&T bought the Excel from Exmar last year on behalf of its project partner, paying around $48m and setting a new benchmark price for a steam turbine-driven LNG carrier.
Portovaya LNG is a mid-scale LNG export plant on Russia’s Baltic Sea coast jointly developed by Gazprom and Russian engineering company SRDI Oil & Gas Peton. It will use pipeline gas to produce 1.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG.
The FSU will be moored behind a breakwater near the town of Vyborg and take on cargoes produced by the plant until they are ready to be offloaded onto visiting vessels.
Longer-term plans for Portovaya include building onshore LNG storage.
