China’s Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering has held a keel-laying ceremony for CNOOC’s 12,000-cbm liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering vessel.
The ceremony for the vessel with a working name S1066 took place on June 30, according to a statement by CIMC SOE.
CIMC SOE is building this vessel for a unit of CNOOC Energy Development and it will be named Hai Yang Shi You 302.
The unit of CIMC Enric won this contract worth about 441 million yuan ($61 million) in December 2021.
The CCS-classed 132.9 meters long and 22 meters wide vessel will have a draft of 11.8 meters and will feature two type c tanks each with a capacity of some 6,000 cbm, CIMC SOE said.
After completion in 2024, it will mainly fuel coastal LNG-powered ships, inland river refueling stations, and undertake LNG transfers along the giant Yangtze river, it said.
CNOOC’s LNG bunkering business on the rise
CNOOC is expanding its LNG bunkering business and it recently joined forces with France’s CMA CGM to complete the first LNG bunkering operation at the Meishan terminal in the Ningbo-Zhoushan port.
Prior to the bunkering operation, the 30,000-cbm Hai Yang Shi You 301 loaded LNG at CNOOC’s Ningbo LNG import facility in Zhejiang.
In November last year, CSSC’s Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) converted this 184.7 meters long LNG carrier with Wartsila DF engines and TGE Marine type C tanks to enable it to perform ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operations.
The converted vessel now has a capacity to deliver up to 1650 cbm of LNG per hour during an STS operation.
The LNG bunkering vessel completed its first bunkering operation in the Yantian port in Shenzhen on January 18.