Karpowership and Mitsui OSK Line's joint venture, KARMOL, is to start work to convert a third LNG carrier to a floating storage and regasification unit.
Speaking at the Gastech Virtual Summit on Friday, Karpowership business development director Mehmet Katmer said that KARMOL has about to kick off the conversion in Singapore.
He did not name the LNG carrier that is to be converted.
But he said: "We are about to start the third one, which currently doesn't have a contract, so we don't have the destination. But it will pair with one of the powerships we have."
Katmer said the first of KARMOL’s three conversions into what the partners have dubbed LNGT, or LNG to power, units is due to be operational in Senegal in early 2021.
"We are planning to deliver the first LNG to power project in West Africa in 2021," Katmer said.
He explained that this project for Dakar will come on stream shortly before Senegal’s domestic gas supply becomes available.
KARMOL has been converting the 127,000-cbm Dwiputra (built 1994) into the FSRU KARMOL LNGT Powership Africa.
The ship was originally earmarked to be sent to Mozambique at the end of 2019, where it would be used to supply regasified LNG to Karpowership’s 120MW powership Irem Sultan, which has been using heavy fuel oil to generate power.
But delays to its conversion and then the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which halted work at Singapore shipyards, severely delayed the job.
Looking downstream
Katmer said KARMOL has a vision to use its Senegal unit to supply downstream customers and other units in the region.
Katmer said a second unit – thought to be the former 127,452-cbm Northwest Shearwater (built 1991) — is scheduled to be on location off Nacala in Mozambique next year. The ship is to be renamed KARMOL LNGT Powership Asia.
Once it is operational it will also be used for regional supply he said.
Early this year, TradeWinds reported that KARMOL was working on what was to be a third conversion of the 127,363-cbm, Moss-type LNG carrier Northwest Seaeagle (built 1992).
The vessel entered Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine shipyard in December and has now been renamed KARMOL LNGT Powership Anatolia.
But Karpowership interests later sold the vessel on to CNTIC VPower for conversion into a floating storage unit.
Katmer said the LNGTs are specifically designed to operate with Karpowership’s floating power vessels and have more flexibility built into them for this role.
The business director said Karpowership, which put its first powership into operation in 2010, now has a total installed capacity of 4,000 MW. It has 25 powerships operating in 13 countries.
He said the company will add a further 1,000 MW to this in 2021 from the vessels it is building.
Until 2025 we are looking to reach 8 gigawatts of capacity,” he said.
