Summit says Bangladesh FSRU ready to resume ops

The FSRU, which serves Bangladesh’s second LNG import terminal ,sustained damage on May 27 during cyclone Remal.

“During the peak of cyclone Remal, a stray broken floating pontoon weighing hundreds of tonnes repeatedly hit Summit’s FSRU causing damage to the ballast water tank,” Summit said.

On July 10, the FSRU returned from Singapore to Moheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar after completing repairs at the Seatrium yard.

US LNG player Excelerate told LNG Prime on June 14 that it expects its FSRU Summit LNG to complete repairs and resume operations by the end of July.

DTM buoy

Following its arrival in Bangladesh on July 10, the FSRU sustained damage again.

“On the next day, July 11, during the preparation for mooring, the FSRU with the disconnectable turret mooring (DTM) plug in the subsea landing pad, there was an unexpected entanglement and damage to the DTM buoy messenger line,” Summit said.

Summit’s unit Summit LNG appointed MacGregor, CAN System, and also Shelf Subsea, to “safely moor the FSRU by rectifying the mishap of offset DTM on the subsea landing pad.”

“At that time eastern Bangladesh was experiencing its worst floods in 34 years. The silt flowing into the sea made underwater visibility almost zero. This posed a significant obstacle to the undersea damage identification and rectification by the internationally licensed subsea diving team,” Summit said.

“After 131 daunting and exhausting dives in challenging weather and sea conditions, engineers from Norway, Australia, and the Summit LNG Terminal team managed to restore the terminal’s subsea assets to normal condition,” it said.

“Millions of dollars in repair”

On September 11, the FSRU was successfully connected to the holdback anchors and Summit LNG Terminal “is now ready for regasification and ship-to-ship operation,” Summit said.

“During the period of over three months when Summit’s FSRU was initially damaged by cyclone Remal, Summit has spent millions of dollars in repair-related expenditure,” the company said.

The terminal can send out 500 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of regasified LNG to the national grid.

In August 2017, Summit entered into a 15-year charter agreement with Excelerate for the FSRU, and the unit began operations at the facility in April 2019.

Excelerate’s FSRU also serves Bangladesh’s first LNG import facility, Moheshkhali Floating LNG or MLNG, operated by Petrobangla.

Launched in 2018, the 138,000-cbm FSRU Excellence completed its 100th STS transfer offshore Bangladesh in 2021.