Harvey and LNG

http://www.workboat.com/Online-Features/2014/Harvey-Gulf-breaks-ground-on-LNG-facility/

Interesting article.
Does anyone here work on an LNG boat?

Here is another local newspaper article regarding Harvey Gulf and LNG: LNG fueling station means 70 new jobs

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20140218/articles/140219614

Claudette L. Pitre
A Chateau on the Bayou Bed & Breakfast
3158 Hwy 308
Raceland, LA 70394
www.achateauonthebayou.com

I don’t believe there are any LNG vessels on this side of the planet. HGIM will have the largest fleet of LNG powered vessels in the world, once all are built.

[QUOTE=papermate;131034]I don’t believe there are any LNG vessels on this side of the planet. HGIM will have the largest fleet of LNG powered vessels in the world, once all are built.[/QUOTE]

seems some have been,

[QUOTE=Doodlebug;131038]http://www.marinelink.com/news/launched-harvey-first363313.aspx

seems some have been,[/QUOTE]

I’m still a little skeptical of the LNG viability in the GOM market. From what I’ve heard (can someone confirm?) the Harvey boats will only be able to operate for roughly 7 days, when using straight LNG as a fuel source, and then would have to swap back to diesel. Those size OSV’s can spend considerable amounts of time offshore before coming in for dockside operations. It seems with the steep price tag to have an LNG powered (an additional $12MM) the amount of savings may not be that great unless it comes into port frequently. So if Harvey has the only (6) vessels operating partially on LNG that means a bunch of vehicles or other sources will have to utilize this facility to come close to seeing a profit in my opinion.

HOS has voiced that they don’t see the demand yet to justify spending the extra money on an OSV to have the option of using LNG. ECO to my knowledge hasn’t got involved in LNG yet either. I don’t see any other viable companies in the GOM that could justify or afford going in this direction at this time.

ECO is there…
Maybe a different way but they are there.

I wonder where they’re going to get the qualified engineers to operate these vessels? A 500 ton dde 4000 with OSV 3000 or 6000 ITC any hp??

Sure why not? That guy can’t be just as qualified? Did they start adding PHD in astro physics as an endorsement to unlimited licenses?

Jimmy Neutron!!!

Totally forgot about that guy, but he is the rare exception.

We have a high tech torch that runs on acetylene. Maybe other companies will follow suit.

I just spilled rum and coke in bed, the mrs. Is not happy with either of us.

I worked as a cadet on LNG ships back in the 70’s when the US had 3 companies shipping LNG, (Energy Transportation, El Paso Energy, and some 2 ship company out of La.). LNG is kept at -263 degrees Fahrenheit and a couple tenths of a degree rise will cause the vapor pressure to increase and pop the safety valves and vent methane into the atmosphere which is not a good situation. I saw 2 of the cargo tank safeties lift in Bontang, Indonesia when they loaded too fast. The tanks had warmed up because we lost a boiler tube when we sailed from Japan to Indonesia and the cargo ROB (used keep tanks cold on return trip) got low and caused a small rise in tank temp because we were late getting back in to load cargo.

You have to spray the LNG around the tanks to keep itself cold. What flashes to gas keeps the rest of the LNG liquid by boiling off like any refrigerant will when it boils. The ships I worked on burned the boil off gas in the boilers which OSVs don’t usually have. Maybe the new ships will compress and keep the LNG bunkers cold with a mini liquification plant . The engines will use the boil off gas for propulsion and electrical generation. Usually the tanks are surrounded by a membrane which is inerted with nitrogen pressurized slightly above the tank internal pressure. The nitrogen is used to inert the tanks before you load LNG into them too. It is a complicated system.

[QUOTE=Too bad steam is gone;131277]I worked as a cadet on LNG ships back in the 70’s when the US had 3 companies shipping LNG, (Energy Transportation, El Paso Energy, and some 2 ship company out of La.). LNG is kept at -263 degrees Fahrenheit and a couple tenths of a degree rise will cause the vapor pressure to increase and pop the safety valves and vent methane into the atmosphere which is not a good situation. I saw 2 of the cargo tank safeties lift in Bontang, Indonesia when they loaded too fast. The tanks had warmed up because we lost a boiler tube when we sailed from Japan to Indonesia and the cargo ROB (used keep tanks cold on return trip) got low and caused a small rise in tank temp because we were late getting back in to load cargo.

You have to spray the LNG around the tanks to keep itself cold. What flashes to gas keeps the rest of the LNG liquid by boiling off like any refrigerant will when it boils. The ships I worked on burned the boil off gas in the boilers which OSVs don’t usually have. Maybe the new ships will compress and keep the LNG bunkers cold with a mini liquification plant . The engines will use the boil off gas for propulsion and electrical generation. Usually the tanks are surrounded by a membrane which is inerted with nitrogen pressurized slightly above the tank internal pressure. The nitrogen is used to inert the tanks before you load LNG into them too. It is a complicated system.[/QUOTE]

From what I have researched and understand, the Europeans have been using LNG for quite some time. I read where some of their vessels use it 80% of the time and Diesel 20% and as a secondary fuel, with LNG being the Primary. This system for HGIM is a package from Wartsila, they have it down to a science. And they are even building and converting much larger engines to LNG.
I also don’t understand the science of only having enough for 7 days, does not make sense to me, but then again what does with some of these ideas. I would think that with savings in fuel and maintenance costs, it would be feasible to have a larger capacity to run that 80/20 ratio of fuel being consumed. And have a true LNG / Enviro + vessel, instead of one that is only good for 7 days…
It will be interesting to see how it will all evolve after the first ones come out. As for qualified Engineers, it is not that much more difficult than straight diesel, I see some guys are all worried and want nothing to do with it, while some are wanting to get on one of these.
We wil soon see how it all works out.

One of the problems with LNG is that, as a rule of thumb, the cylindrical storage tanks, insulation etc. require 7 times as much space as fuel oil tanks of equivalent energy content when located inside the hull of the vessel. With good design, the factor can be pushed down to 3-4, but that difficult especially with retrofits.

For example, the LNG-powered cruiseferry Viking Grace that sails between Finland and Sweden refuels 60-70 tonnes of LNG every day. Note the fuel tanks and vent mast on the aft deck:

Perhaps Harvey Gulf could invest to an LNG refueling vessel that would top up the supply boats at sea?

http://www.tu.no/industri/2013/12/09/usa-rederier-velger-lng-motorer
http://www.tu.no/industri/2012/02/17/dobler-antall-lng-skip-i-usa
http://www.tu.no/industri/2013/02/06/verdens-forste-containerskip-med-lng

If anyone of you understand a little norwegian or manage to translate it using google :slight_smile:

With LNG fuel tanks you can’t strip tanks like a regular fuel tanks. You need to leave enough cold liquid to keep each fuel tank (the boiling liquid is boiling at -262 f) for the remaining voyage time until it filled again. When the remaining liquid flashes to gas it keeps the remaining LNG liquid by carrying the latent heat of vaporization away with it, hence cooling the tank. If you load a -262 degree liquid into a room temp tank it can crack due to thermal stresses. There is a complicated loading program where the tanks are inerted, cooled with cold gas then liquid and finally slowly loaded when the tanks are down to temperature. All the time you must watch vapor pressure. We used to vent to a burn-off flare on the beach when we loaded but nowadays the gas is reliquified ashore.