Drydocks World - Dubai, the region's premier ship repair,conversion and new building yard and the flagship company of Drydocks World, has announced that work is underway on its first ever Floating Storage Re-gasification Unit (FSRU) conversion project, known as the FSRU Livornoproject.  

The conversion of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier,'Golar Frost,' into an FSRU is being handled by the main contractor, Saipem, aleading international turnkey contractor in the oil and gas industry and willbe delivered to OLT Offshore LNG Toscana, a company operating in the Italian gas industry.

FSRUs are floating terminals where LNG is stored before beingre-gasified on board. 'Golar Frost' will be converted into a floating LNGreceiving terminal of FSRU type to be permanently moored offshore Livorno, Italy, approximately 12 miles from the coast in a water depth of about 120metres and connected to shore through a gas export pipeline.

 It will have astorage capacity of 137,000 cu m of LNG and a production capacity of 3.75billion standard cu m per annum (bscmpa).

FSRU conversion is one of the very few such projectsundertaken by ship yards across the world.  Drydocks World - Dubai began work in June 2009 and plans tocomplete it by mid-2010.  NawalSaigal, managing director, Drydocks World - Dubai, said: 'The FSRU Livorno conversion is a prestigious assignment for us. It is the largest and mostadvanced FSRU to come into the market. Drydocks World - Dubai has collaborated with Saipem on many projects in the past and we appreciate their confidence inour maritime engineering expertise and manpower excellence.  We are confident that this project willfurther strengthen Dubai's reputation as a global leader in the ship conversion industry.'

The conversion of the LNG carrier includes fabrication andinstallation of structures such as a turret mooring system, aft thrustercompartment, foundations of cranes and loading arms, bilge keel and foundationsfor equipments. In addition, the unit's external hull, deck and outfitting willbe blasted and coated.