The National Oil and Gas Authority of Bahrain (Noga) has awarded a contract to Netherlands-based Smit Lamnalco for the supply of marine services to the Bahrain LNG Terminal.

Smit Lamnalco will deploy four LNG terminal compliant 70TBP tugs to provide escort, berthing and un-berthing of LNG carriers to the Bahrain LNG import terminal which is jointly owned by The Oil & Gas Holding Company (nogaholding) - Noga’s investment and development arm - and a consortium consisting of Teekay LNG Partners, Gulf Investment Corporation and Samsung C&T, said a statement.

Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahraini Minister of Oil, said: “This contract represents another significant milestone in the implementation of the Bahrain LNG terminal.”

“I would like to congratulate the Smit Lamnalco, Noga, nogaholding and BLNG teams on the work that they have done to put this agreement in place. I welcome the addition of Smit to the growing family of industry leaders that have a presence in Bahrain,” he said.

The Bahrain LNG Import Terminal is structured as a build, own, operate, transfer (Boot) project, with ownership of the terminal reverting to Noga after 20 years of operations. The terminal combines offshore and onshore facilities.

The offshore facilities will be located approximately 5 km east of Khalifa bin Salman port, where the main onshore facilities are located. The terminal has been developed to provide security of supply of gas to Bahrain, supplementing domestic gas production from the ageing Khuff reserves.

Bahrain is dependent on natural gas for the production of power and water and gas is used by local industry and in oil production. 

Stanley Maas, chief executive officer, Smit Lamnalco, said: “We are looking forward to working in partnership with Noga, nogaholding and its partners to deliver safe and reliable marine services that exceed expectations.”

“We would also like to thank them for demonstrating their faith in Smit Lamnalco by awarding the marine services contract to our team,” he added.

The signing ceremony took place at Capital Club in Bahrain Financial Harbour with Shaikh Mohamed bin Khalifa; Maas; Dr Dafer Al Jalahma, nogaholding acting CEO in addition to senior management of Noga, nogaholding, BLNG, Rezayat Group (Shareholder of Smit Lamnalco) and Smit Lamnalco.

As one of the world’s leading marine services providers, Smit Lamnalco understands the operational requirements of floating LNG and has considerable experience in developing the required scope of work to meet the requirements of Noga, nogaholding and its partners.

Smit Lamnalco will develop an infrastructure to support the project for the next 20 years employing four 70TBP tugs from its fleet, which will be replaced in year five with four brand new purpose-built tugs for the following 15 years, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service