South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean has completed what it says is the world’s first ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) between vessels undergoing sea trials.
Based on Hanwha’s social media post, the vessels in question are Maran Gas Syros and Woodside Jirrubakura . The latter is an LNG carrier that was named last month and is expected to work at Woodside’s Scarborough energy project.
The South Korean player claims that this not only reduces environmental impact, but also resolves the risk of schedule delays caused by terminal congestion.
As explained, LNG carriers conducting gas trials normally first load LNG from a terminal and later return the remaining LNG once trials are complete. The latest achievement enables LNG to be directly transferred to another vessel under trial at sea, which is said to improve efficiency and flexibility.
This follows another record for Hanwha recently achieved – the world’s first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation within a shipyard. In addition to this, the company plans to construct the first LNG carrier built in the U.S. in almost 50 years at its Philly shipyard.