SINGAPORE - Marine and offshore engineering group Sembcorp Marine announced on Thursday that it has secured two floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities conversion projects from global infrastructure company New Fortress Energy (NFE).

The projects involve the engineering, conversion, topside fabrication and integration of two Sevan cylindrical drilling vessels into floating LNG facilities.

The contract is not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible assets or earnings per share of Sembcorp Marine for the current fiscal year.

The hull conversion and fabrication of topsides for the first floating LNG liquefaction facility is scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2024. Work on the second floating LNG liquefaction facility project is expected to be contracted to Sembcorp Marine at a later date.

Once converted, the two floating LNG liquefaction units will host the NFE-designed Fast LNG liquefaction production facility with a capacity of approximately 1.4 million tonnes per annum.

While NFE currently has Fast LNG liquefaction facilities on jackup rigs under construction in the United States, this marks the first set of two Sevan cylindrical hulls to be repurposed into floating LNG liquefaction facilities.

“These projects allow our customer to rapidly deploy floating LNG facilities to capture the growing demand for LNG liquefaction terminals, and to tap Sembcorp Marine’s full suite of floating and nearshore LNG solutions that are well-placed to meet the needs of the burgeoning LNG market,” said Mr William Gu, the company’s senior vice-president and head of Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters.

Shares of Sembcorp Marine were up 0.3 cent, or 2.6 per cent, at 12 cents at 10.03am on Thursday, after the announcement. THE BUSINESS TIMES