Gazprom Marketing & Trading (GM&T) and
OOO Gazprom Flot have signed an agreement to provide technical and commercial advisory services during the construction of a Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU). Both companies are subsidiaries of
PAO Gazprom.
The FSRU was ordered by Gazprom earlier this year and is due to be built by
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in Ulsan, South Korea. It is scheduled to be delivered in November 2017 and used to supply natural gas to the Kaliningrad Region of Russia.
According to Gazprom, the FSRU "will combine excellent LNG storage (max capacity 174,100 cbm) and natural gas processing (max sendout 500 mmscf/day) capabilities with superior sea-going (speed up to 19.5 knots), energy efficiency (BOR below 0.09%/day) and ice (Arc 4 ice class from the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping) characteristics, which will enable the FSRU's flexible utilisation as a regasification plant, an LNG shuttle or a conventional LNG carrier depending on the energy security situation in the Kaliningrad Region."
In addition, the FSRU will be adapted for handling small-scale LNG vessels for Gazprom's future
LNG bunkering business in the Baltic Sea. It also includes expanded accommodation and specialised equipment for shipboard and LNG handling training of cadets from the Russian maritime universities.
GM&T's Shipping unit provided technical and commercial advisory to Gazprom during the development of the FSRU's technical specifications and the negotiation of the shipbuilding contract with HHI. Now it will be providing technical expertise and supervising the full cycle of the shipbuilding process, including the detailed design, construction, commissioning and delivery of FSRU. It will also provide advice on the selection of technology, with a specific emphasis on LNG ship-to-ship transfers, ice and cold temperature operations and small-scale LNG solutions.
Nikolai Grigoriev, Global Director of Shipping, GM&T remarked: "This project builds upon the strong technical expertise of GM&T in LNG and ice class shipbuilding and operations. We are extremely proud to support Gazprom, our parent company, and to be involved in the construction of the world's first ice-class FSRU with such advanced technical characteristics, and of such importance for Russia."
