South Korea’s HD Hyundai Marine Solution has secured a contract from US energy giant Chevron to install reliquefaction units and other tech on the latter’s two liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.
The unit of HD Hyundai, previously known as Hyundai Global Service, revealed the contract award in a statement issued on Thursday.
In addition to reliquefaction units, HD Hyundai Marine will also install air lubrication technology and new gas compressors.
HD Hyundai Marine said that the 2014-built 160,000-cbm, Asia Energy, is one of the two LNG carriers which will receive the upgrade.
The firm did not provide the price tag of the deal.
Last year, the company also won an order from LNG carrier operator CoolCo to retrofit five TFDE LNG carriers with sub-coolers for LNG boil-off reliquefaction in order to slash emissions and improve fuel consumption.
This deal is worth $50 million or some $10 million per vessel.
A reliquefaction unit reliquefies BOG generated during the operation of LNG cargo tanks, either returning the gas to the cargo tank or preventing natural evaporation using sub-cooled LNG.
So far, HD Hyundai Marine won $100 million in orders to install reliquefaction units on eight LNG carriers, including the CoolCo order, it said.
HD Hyundai Marine said there are about 100 LNG carriers without reliquefaction systems, and the total cost to install the technology on them is estimated at $700 million.
As per Chevron, the company’s shipping unit contracted last year a subsidiary of Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine to install reliquefaction systems and other tech on Chevron’s LNG carriers as part of a move to further slash emissions.
According to Chevron’s website, its shipping unit operates ten LNG carriers, including Asia Energy.
As part of its shipbuilding program, Chevron Shipping took delivery of six LNG carriers over the period of 2013-2017.