Marking an historic occasion, Croatia rang in the new year welcoming its first LNG cargo at its newly commissioned floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) LNG Croatia
The LNG cargo transfer from LNG carrier Tristar Ruby to the FSRU was completed on 3 January. Tristar Ruby loaded the cargo at the Cove Point LNG terminal in Lusby, Maryland, according to Bloomberg.
With a storage capacity of 140,000 m3, FSRU LNG Croatia is deployed on Krk Island in the northern Adriatic Sea of Croatia to provide natural gas to the national grid, local power plants and neighboring countries as a move to transition to cleaner fuels. The ability of Croatia to import LNG also lessens the country’s dependence on natural gas from Russia, providing it with greater energy security. The former Golar Viking, LNG Croatia is expected to be operated by Golar LNG as an FSRU for at least 10 years.
Meanwhile, Tristar Ruby (ex British Ruby) joined the Tristar Group fleet as the company’s first LNG carrier in December 2019 under a long-term charter with BP Shipping. Built for BP as part of the Gem-class of ships in 2008 by South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries, the Liberian-flagged LNG carrier has a length overall of 289 m, beam of 44 m, draught of 12.2 m and capacity of 151,945 m3.
Tristar Ruby has a dual-fuel diesel-electric propulsion system that allows the four diesel engines to run on boil-off gas from the cargo tanks or on conventional diesel fuel. As a result, BP says the Gem-class vessels consume about 40 tonnes per day less fuel than an LNG carrier of similar size with a conventional steam turbine propulsion system.
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