ABS has entered into a joint development project with South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) to develop the industry’s first liquified natural gas-fueled drillship.
The JDP will address challenges associated with storing and managing cryogenic LNG safely by combining DSME’s experience developing and applying LNG technology to floating structures with ABS’ technical standards and experience working on a number of gas-fueled, LNG and regasification unit projects.
The partners say they are targeting the Gulf of Mexico as a key market for an LNG fueled drillship because, with the abundance of affordable shale gas in the US, LNG as a marine fuel “makes good economic sense.”
To initiate the project, DSME has performed a concept design, comparison between two types of LNG storage tanks and analysis of the fuel gas supply system that will be installed on the drillship. ABS’ scope of work calls for concept design review, basic engineering review and a risk assessment of the tank space and access area, fuel gas supply system, machinery space and access area and associated configurations.
The verification aspect of the JDP will rely on ABS’ experience as a classification society for the offshore and energy industry and its experience leveraging these capabilities to help industry move LNG-as-fuel and other gas developments forward.
Switching to LNG can help vessel owners and operators achieve operating savings by reducing fuel consumption and lowering emissions to meet strict sulfur requirements.
Photo Credit: offshore oil rig with supply vessel via Shutterstock