Sembcorp Marine has confirmed that it is to convert two former cylindrical drilling vessels into floating LNG liquefaction facilities for New Fortress Energy (NFE).
William Gu, head of rigs and floaters at Sembcorp Marine, said the contracts mark the yard’s successful penetration of the FLNG market.
The Singapore yard group will conduct the work under master service agreements which cover engineering, conversion, topside fabrication and integration.
The hull conversion and fabrication of topsides for the first FLNG facility is scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2024.
Work on the second floating liquefaction project is expected to be contracted through further work engagement contracts to Sembcorp Marine at a later date.
TradeWinds first reported the contracts in late September. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The two floating liquefaction units will be fitted with the NFE-designed Fast LNG production facility with a capacity of approximately 1.4 million tonnes per annum.
Sembcorp Marine said LNG produced will be stored in a separate LNG tanker moored near the FLNG liquefaction facility.
While NFE currently has Fast LNG liquefaction facilities on jack-up rigs under construction in the US, this is said to be the first set of two Sevan cylindrical hulls to be re-purposed into FLNG liquefaction facilities.
Sembcorp Marine chief executive Wong Weng Sun added that these conversion projects “signal the broadening of our capabilities to provide customised solutions to clients across the energy value chain”.
“Over the years, Sembcorp Marine has advanced its EPC [engineering, procurement and construction] capabilities towards solution-driven initiatives through investments in technology companies such as Sevan SSP,” he said.
“Our continuous R&D efforts have also enabled Sembcorp Marine to successfully develop and commercialise our proprietary designs and solutions like this FLNG conversion.”
He said the Sevan SSP circular hull design offers solutions for electrifying offshore oil and gas production units and floating wind installations, in addition to carbon capture, utilisation and storage applications.
Sembcorp Marine acquired the LNG business of Sevan Marine in 2018, including its intellectual property, employees, the shares of HiLoad LNG and other assets.
This gave Sembcorp ownership of offshore solutions based on Sevan’s cylindrical hull design and HiLoad’s offloading and regasification technologies.
Sevan had been working on the cylindrical-hull floating LNG concept since 2015 under a development project with ExxonMobil.
The two later signed a long-term framework agreement with the oil major to use the cylindrical hull technology for future projects, but little appears to have come of that tie-up.
