An LNG carrier that was converted into a specialised floating storage unit designed to operate in ice has been moored off Sharjah as delays to the project it was designed for lengthen.
The 138,107-cbm Portovvy (ex-Excel, built 2003) has been brought alongside in the emirate and may undergo gassing-up and cool-down operations to prepare it for inspection and trading, sources said.
The vessel underwent conversion to an FSU at Drydocks World in preparation for deployment to Gazprom’s Portovaya LNG export plant on the Baltic Sea coast near Vyborg.
Belt problems
The midscale project was due to start up this year but has been delayed, possibly until mid-2020.
The FSU has been fitted with an “ice-belt” on its port side, extending out about 1.5 metres from its hull. This was put in place to protect the ship from the ice floes in the waters where it will eventually be stationed.
This week some of the first photos emerged of this hull structure.
With delays to the project, Gazprom and its associates have been offering the vessel out for charter. However, the ice belt is proving problematic, as it limits portside ship calls.
Gazprom’s Portovaya LNG export plant will use pipeline gas to produce 1.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG.
The project is being jointly developed with Russian engineering company SRDI Oil & Gas Peton. Cargoes will be stored in the FSU and loaded from the unit onto visiting vessels.
Russian oil and gas producer Gazprom Neft has ordered a 5,800-cbm, ice-class 1A vessel from Keppel Shipyard in Singapore to supply LNG as bunkers from the Portovaya project.
