Business Sectors
Business Sectors
Events
Contents
Register to read more articles.
Case study: the world’s largest FSRU starts work
As the world’s largest FSRU, a lot of attention is paid to the specification of FSRU Bauhinia Spirit, but the jetty arrangement is special, too, as MOL voyage manager Mihails Solovjovs explains in this case study
The world’s largest floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), FSRU Bauhinia Spirit, with a storage capacity of 263,000 m3, arrived in Hong Kong on 13 April 2023. “By the end of October, it had lifted five cargoes and was serving the Hong Kong community as a viable and safe source of green energy to the local state power station,” said MOL voyage manager Mihails Solovjovs to delegates of the LNG Shipping & Terminals Conference 2023 in November 2023 in London.
The origins of Hong Kong’s FSRU terminal plan grew out of a response to the 2017 Paris Agreement and its Climate Action Plan on decarbonisation and climate change. Natural gas is a transition fuel that supports Hong Kong’s journey towards its 2050 carbon neutrality target by lowering the carbon intensity of power generation. Hong Kong utility firms CLP Power and HK Electric collaborated to form the Hong Kong LNG Terminal Ltd (HKLTL), a joint venture between the two companies.
HKLTL signed a long-term time charter agreement in 2019 with Japan’s MOL for a vessel to be moored at the jetty of the LNG terminal and to be used to receive, store and regasify LNG before it is supplied to CLP Power’s Black Point Power Station and HK Electric’s Lamma Power Station through two separate subsea gas pipelines.
MOL’s 2017-built MOL FSRU Challenger was chosen for the project and the vessel’s regasification equipment was enhanced at Keppel Shipyard (now Seatrium) in Singapore in 2022. This included upgrading the FSRU’s original nominal regasification capacity from 540M cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to 600M mmcfd and to increase the maximum from 720 mmcfd to 800 mmcfd.
The scope of the modification project included installing an additional vaporiser skid, medium high-pressure pump, high-pressure manifolds, power supply facility for jetty equipment and cryogenic test.
The installation of an additional vaporiser skid was key in increasing the regasification capacity of the FSRU. An additional medium high-pressure pump, used to pressurise the LNG before it is sent out to its vaporisers, was installed to cover the increased demand of LNG regasification.
MOL FSRU Challenger was fitted with additional high-pressure gas manifolds to improve its operational flexibility and a new power supply facility was installed to provide electricity to the jetty equipment. This installation supports the island jetty design, eliminating the need for submarine cables. Cryogenic testing was conducted to ensure there was no leakage from the newly installed cryogenic system. Testing was conducted with liquid nitrogen (-196°C), verifying the system’s ability to withstand the flow of LNG (-162°C).
Mr Solovjovs explained that Hong Kong is cramped and the favoured solution was an offshore jetty for the now renamed FSRU Bauhinia Spirit. Natural gas is supplied to the two power stations through subsea pipelines, on 18 km long and one 40 km long, whose construction was a feat in itself, given the famously crowed waters of Hong Kong.
But the jetty is the key feature of the operation, and the item that offers the most learnings and takeaways for other densely occupied locations. The jetty is double-banked, in that it has facilities on both sides, east and west, to receive an LNG shuttle tanker and to berth FSRU Bauhinia Spirit.
“It makes it relatively easy for manoeuvring an LNG shuttle tanker because it is a fixed infrastructure – it is not moving,” said Mr Solovjovs. The jetty has better geometry for arranging the dolphins to receive the LNG shuttle tanker compared to coming alongside an FSRU, and these can be positioned on either side of the jetty.
Why the emphasis on having the jetty double-banked? FSRU Bauhinia Spirit has been enhanced to allow 20 years between drydocking. “We can do everything in the water and keep the vessel for 20 years on site to avoid any disruption of the gas supply,” said Mr Solovjovs.
The vessel has extra layers of hull coating and structures installed to allow maintenance, including additional isolation valves. The vessel is classed by Bureau Veritas (BV) and Mr Solovjovs paid tribute to BV saying very early on, it was decided on a 20-year in-water operation and the classification did a massive amount of work to align with that requirement.
The FSRU has doubled-up manifolds and gas and LNG handling equipment to allow cargo operations and gas operations from each side. This helps with the maintenance of the mooring clamps. “The jetty has emergency generators,” said Mr Solovjovs, “There is no cable connection. It means the (jetty) construction was easier and cheaper.”
In addition, the FSRU is providing electrical power to the jetty and the jetty is operated remotely from the FSRU with the jetty operators sitting in designated control room which is located on in FSRU superstructure.
Among the takeaways is awareness of local conditions, which in the case of FSRU Bauhinia Spirit includes having options for dealing with Hong Kong’s weather. “We have a typhoon departure place and a plan for avoiding heavy weather.”
Another takeaway is that a lot can be accomplished on a custom project like this if undertaken as a full inhouse package of FSRU ownership and jetty operation and maintenance services. “It makes communication for client much easier,” said Mr Solovjovs.
Riviera Maritime Media’s LNG Shipping & Terminals Conference will be held in London, 12 November 2024, click here to register your interest in this industry-leading event
Related to this Story
Events
Maritime Regulations Webinar Week
16 Dec 2025
GMT - ONLINE
Floating energy: successfully unlocking stranded gas using FLNGs and FSRUs
24 Feb 2026GMT - ONLINE
© 2026 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.
