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Myanmar LNG project developer conducts ship-to-ship transfer offshore Malaysia

Myanmar’s CNTIC VPower Group Holdings, which operates the country’s first LNG-to-power project, has conducted a ship-to-ship transfer of an LNG cargo from the Golar Kelvin to the small-scale LNG carrier Surya Aki, data intelligence provider Kpler said.

The break bulking operation, in which a mother ship splits a full-sized cargo into smaller parcels, is a first for Myanmar, and underscores the unique logistics chain put in place to supply the country’s hard-to-reach LNG facility on the Yangon river.

As part of the sale and purchase agreement between Petronas and CNTIC Vpower in early 2020, the 90,607 dwt LNG carrier Golar Kelvin loaded a full cargo from Bintulu on June 3, but then proceeded to float around the Malacca Strait until mid-July, vessel tracking data showed.

Golar Kelvin then conducted an STS transfer of 19,182 cu m of cargo volume to the 11,612 dwt Surya Aki over July 13-14 and the latter is now crossing the Andaman Sea to discharge its cargo at Yangon’s Thanlyin LNG facility, Rebecca Chia, LNG market analyst at Kpler said.

Instead of a conventional jetty at Thanlyin, the cargo will be discharged at a mobile filling platform and transported via sub-sea pipeline to the LNG-to-Power plant for domestic usage, Chia said.

“Golar Kelvin has been offshore Malacca since July 12 and has been staying idle at the same location ever since,” Chia said. “It is still laden with 140,000 cu m of LNG and will likely discharge the rest of the cargo through STS transfers in the same location.”

She said that since the mobile filling platform is close to shallow waters, smaller vessels such as Surya Aki and CNTIC VPower Global will likely continue to shuttle between Golar Kelvin and Thanlyin, delivering break-bulk LNG cargoes to the platform.

CNTIC VPower, a joint venture between Hong Kong-based VPower Group and China National Technical Import and Export Corp., signed its first power purchase agreement with the Burmese government on June 10 for the 477.1 MW power project in Thaketa, the first LNG-to-power project in Myanmar.

It has signed another power purchase agreement for LNG-to-power projects in Thanlyin and Kyauk Phyu with an aggregate installed capacity of 582.4 MW. This adds up to 1059.5 MW of gas-fired power generation.
Source: Platts

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