Milestone for El Salvador FSRU conversion

The ceremony represents the physical start of the conversion of Marshall Islands-registered LNG carrier BW Tatiana into a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU).

Built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and delivered in 2002, the G-class LNG carrier was owned by Shell and operated as Gallina for 17 years. The Moss Rosenberg-type vessel has an overall length of 290 m, beam of 46 m, with a capacity of 135,269 m³.

As Gallina, the LNG carrier delivered the first cool-down cargo to Prelude FLNG, prior to its start-up in June 2019. Shell suspended operations at Prelude FLNG in February 2020, following a series of technical issues, and has yet to restart commercial operations.

“BW Tatiana is undergoing a conversion that will prepare the vessel for service on El Salvador’s first LNG-to-power project,” said BW LNG in a social media post. “The project will meet 30% of El Salvador’s energy demand, and reduce its environmental impact through the use of cleaner fuels for more sustainable power generation.”

BW LNG noted that a strike steel ceremony marks the start of conversion work, while a steel cutting ceremony marks the start of a newbuild vessel.

Keppel Shipyard recently signed a contract for the conversion with FSRU Development Pte, a joint venture company between BW Gas Limited and Invenergy Investment Co.

Invenergy is a major investor in Energia del Pacifico, developer of El Salvador’s first LNG-to-power project at Port of Acajutla.

Once the conversion is complete, BW Tatiana will be deployed to El Salvador, with Shell supplying the LNG to the gas-to-power project under a long-term contract.

Expectations are that the project will be operational by Q4 2021.