Feasibility study of a barge concept for arctic gas transportation

Thumbnail Image

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Helsinki University of Technology | Master's thesis
Checking the digitized thesis and permission for publishing
Instructions for the author
Location:
P1 Ark TKK

Authors

Date

2008

Department

Sovelletun mekaniikan laitos

Major/Subject

Laivanrakennusoppi

Mcode

Kul-24

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

96 s. + liitt. 8

Series

Abstract

The increasing demand and rising prices of energy resources has made exploration of natural resources in arctic regions economically feasible. Natural gas is a more environmentally friendly alternative compared to oil and other fossil fuels. Resent improvements made in arctic shipping technology further enhance the competitiveness of LNG transportation for arctic regions. Demands for natural gas import facilities in the US are rising as the dependency of imported LNG increases. This thesis studies the feasibility of an innovative solution of transporting LNG on a barge from northern Russia. The application of a regasification unit onboard the ship is added to the design and the use of a Regasification vessel instead of an onshore Regasification facility is included into the study. Two other concepts, a double acting Regasification LNG vessel and an ice strengthened Regasification LNG vessel aided by icebreakers, are also presented and an economic feasibility study of all three alternatives is made. A short presentation of all three concepts is made and the necessary preliminary design for each concept is made in order to make a reliable feasibility study. Ice going speed is simulated with a Transit Simulation program developed by TKK and the feasibility study is performed with a ShipMaC program developed within Wärtsilä Corporation. The results are presented and discussed. Further a sensitivity analysis is made where the operational issues of the concept itself is analysed and parameters greatly affecting the feasibility are discussed. The study of this thesis shows that the barge concept is a feasible solution when considering a new transport system for LNG transport from arctic regions. The case study shows that the barge concept is the most economical of the three compared concepts. The sensitivity analysis also implicate that changes in parameters which affects the total economy of each concept does not severely weaken the competiveness of the barge concept compared to the other concepts.

Description

Supervisor

Kujala, Pentti

Thesis advisor

Levander, Oskar

Keywords

arctic, arktisk, liquefied natural gas, flytande naturgas, barge, pråm, double acting, dubbel verkande, ice, is, regasification, återförgasning

Other note

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-2020120554609

Collections

[dipl] Teknillinen korkeakoulu / TKK