Sevilla Knutsen embarks on Peru LNG career 1

Sevilla Knutsen is the second in a series of four 173,400m³ dual-fuel diesel electric-powered LNGCs for Knutsen OAS and charter to Stream

The 173,400m³ Sevilla Knutsen was delivered to Knutsen OAS Shipping by the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard at Okpo in Korea on 31 May 2010. The LNG carrier is the second of four LNG carriers of similar size that DSME is building for Knutsen. The remaining two vessels will be completed later this year.

Sevilla Knutsen entered into service only a month after Barcelona Knutsen, the first vessel in the series. The pair are the 70th and 71st LNG carriers made by DSME, one of the world’s most prolific builders of such ships. The first three vessels in the new Knutsen quartet are sisterships while the fourth will incorporate winterisation features to enable it to trade in far northern waters. The LNG carrier fleet of Knutsen OAS, including the two remaining DSME newbuildings, is shown in the accompanying table.

Both Sevilla Knutsen and Barcelona Knutsen began long-term charters with Repsol on delivery and headed for the new Peru LNG terminal at Pampa Melchorita to load cargoes. Barcelona Knutsen loaded the first LNG shipment to be produced by the plant and departed in late June for her destination, the Costa Azul receiving terminal on Mexico’s northwestern coast, near the US border. Sevilla Knutsen arrived at the Pampa Melchorita terminal to load Peru LNG’s second cargo a few days later. Repsol has an exclusive rights contract to market the entire output of the Peru LNG plant for 18 years from the start of commercial operations.

Knutsen’s relationship with Repsol is already well established. Repsol and fellow Spanish gas company Gas Natural Fenosa operate a pooled fleet of LNG carriers under the Stream banner to handle their combined gas transport requirements worldwide. Three of the four 138,000m³ Knutsen LNG carriers – Bilbao Knutsen, Iberica Knutsen and Sestao Knutsen – are already serving in the Stream fleet under long-term charters. The shipowner’s fourth 138,000m³ vessel – Cadiz Knutsen – is on charter to Gas Natural Fenosa but is not part of the Stream fleet.

At the beginning of 2010 the Stream fleet stood at 11 LNG carriers but is being built up to 17 ships during the course of this year with the addition of six new vessels to handle the Peru LNG exports. Sevilla Knutsen and Barcelona Knutsen are the first of the six. The remaining four comprise Knutsen’s final two DSME ships, the recently delivered 153,400m³ STX Frontier and the 173,600m³ Castillo de Santisteban now nearing completion for Elcano at the STX Shipbuilding yard in Korea. Whereas the four new Knutsen ships have been taken on long-term charters, Stream has fixed STX Frontier and Castillo de Santisteban under short-to-medium term arrangements.

Sevilla Knutsen and the three other 173,400m³ vessels in the DSME series are the first large LNG carriers in the Knutsen fleet to employ dual-fuel diesel-electric (DFDE) propulsion. The shipowner points out that the efficiency of a DFDE system is 40 per cent greater than that of the traditional steam turbines that power its 138,000m³ vessels. The efficiency of DFDE propulsion, plus its high level of redundancy and its environmental advantages over steam turbines in terms of reduced atmospheric emissions of harmful pollutants, have encouraged the LNG shipping industry in general to make this the system of choice for conventional size LNG carriers in recent years.

In addition to the redundancy offered by her four dual-fuel diesel engines, Sevilla Knutsen has an extra measure of backup capability in her twin shaft, skeg and propeller arrangement. This configuration also makes for a ship that is less fuel intensive and more manoeuvrable, both in port and at sea, than a single-screw vessel.

Further cost benefits come from the relatively high cargo-carrying capacity of the ships in the series. DFDE arrangements take up less engineroom space than steam turbines, enabling more of the hull space to be devoted to cargo tanks and lowering costs per tonne of LNG carried.

Knutsen is aiming to achieve further improvements in fuel efficiency for Sevilla Knutsen through the choice of the hull antifouling coating for the vessel. Intersleek 9000, the premium foul-release coating from International Paint (IP), has been applied to the underwater hull of the ship. It is International Paint Korea’s 100th application of Intersleek.

Johannes Brynjulvsen, Knutsen’s project manager for LNG carrier newbuildings, comments: “This was the first time that we have used International Paint for any of our newbuilding vessels. It was not an easy decision to select Intersleek 900 because of the large investment involved but we believe the product fits very well with our determination to be an environmentally responsible company. The investment will be more than recouped by fuel savings in service.”

Intersleek 900 was introduced in February 2007 and John Willsher, the Intersleek market manager at IP, explains that it is a patented, biocide-free, fluoropolymer foul-release coating and represents the very latest advance in foul-release technology. “Intersleek 900 complements our Intersleek 700 silicone-based foul-release coating, which has been available since 1999,” states Mr Willsher. “There have now been more than 1,000 applications of the Intersleek range on a diverse range of ship hulls.”

IP opened a new product development laboratory in Singapore in May 2010 to focus on the development of the next-generation antifouling and foul-release technology. LNG