How much do you lift?

The LNG sector has a bright future as it continues developing around the world, flourishing across countries such as Australia, Algeria, and Russia. In such a young industry with significant room to grow, key players in the sector are seeking to capitalise on this opportunity and maintain their competitive advantage over other fossil fuel producers. According to recent reports, a number of major projects in the industry are projected to begin development over the next 10 years as many countries seek to fight climate change and reduce greenhouse gases, posing a unique opportunity for developers involved in their construction and maintenance.

Constructing an LNG terminal requires careful planning and equipment and can pose unique challenges to developers due to engineering constraints, specifics for gas pipelines, and selecting the most applicable technology for production.

Heavy lifting firm Sarens has been involved in LNG projects around the world, adding a number of prominent projects to its roster over the past several years. With a growing expertise in the sector and the challenges that have been encountered on such projects – most notably through its work in Algeria and Russia – the firm has a grasp on the operational difficulties and technicalities of construction as well as maintenance projects required to keep LNG facilities operating efficiently.

To highlight some of the most critical considerations, this article will outline the scope of two projects in distinct locations: the recent revamp of the Algerian Arzew plant and the Russian Yamal terminal construction.

Figure 1. A CC8800 crane completing a lift at the LNG plant in Russia.

Movement and lifts in a live petrochemical site with space constraints involve meticulous planning. Algeria’s role as the world’s first major LNG producer attracted Sarens’ team to the Arzew plant project, which plays a crucial role in exports for the country while also helping it to lower its CO2 emissions. The Arzew LNG facility was completed earlier this year after undergoing a maintenance project to modernise the plant, which was originally constructed in the 1970s.

Together with Renaissance for Airproduct, Sarens’ team was tasked with the role of lifting and carrying out the installation of refinery equipment at the plant, for which the team needed to strategically plan the lifts required in order to avoid disrupting operations and exports at the plant.

“Through careful planning we were able to ensure that there were no additional disruptions in production at the plant while it underwent important maintenance,” said Saadi El Mehdi Zemmouri of Sarens, “We lifted several tanks as well as the cold box, which stretched 47 m long, weighed 150 t, and which will allow the plant to continue operating efficiently for years to come.”

According to Sarens, the most important component of the project was successfully transporting the 47 m long cold box, for which the team decided to deploy its CC2800-1 crane with SSL 72 m main boom length and a lifting capacity that was able to sustain the 150 t cold box.

The main crane was selected while taking into account the length of the cold box – which was the most critical section to be lifted – but also because the crane could easily be transported from Sarens’ Algeria offices and was able to be assembled in four days on the project site.

The heavy lifts were successfully completed and will maintain LNG gas production at the GL1Z plant in Algeria, allowing the industry to continue expanding in the region. The Arzew plant’s renovations will reduce future maintenance costs and gas consumption rates, as well as maintaining LNG gas production, boding well for its future.

Figure 2. A CC8800 crane completing a lift at the LNG plant in Russia.

Figure 3. A Sarens CC8800-1 crane at the Yamal project site in Russia.

One of the LNG sector’s most iconic projects sits at the edge of the Arctic Circle in northern Russia. In this rural and almost completely uninhabited terrain, one of the most important natural gas projects in the country was developed in the form of the US$25 billion Yamal LNG project, led by Novatek and Total. As one of the most prominent natural gas projects in the country, it required extensive planning and tasked Sarens with transporting several 630 t tank modules as part of its construction.

Braving the extreme cold, brutal winds, and isolated terrain, Sarens transported and lifted 630 t tank modules during its work on the project in 2017, where Vinci Construction was tasked with assembling four 160 000 m3 tanks, under the direction of the Technip-JGC-Chiyoda consortium, which led the LNG plant’s installation.

To begin its work on-site, Sarens operators used the company’s CC8800-1 crane with a boom booster to lift a 300 t heat exchanger. Once completed, Sarens’ team sought to complete one of the project’s most challenging lifts: placing a 630 t main platform on top of a tank. The platform, which measured 42 m × 25 m × 15 m, was transported from the nearby Sabetta port site to the project site, a distance of approximately 3 km, before being lifted into place at a 30 m radius.

Sarens project manager Abderahim Bouazza stated, “Operationally, this was the most difficult lift of the project, as it demanded 99.7% of crane capacity. Our team had to carefully plan each step and ensure that all actions were

perfectly executed. Engineering was very important for this special lift.”

Once completed, the lift was repeated various times to set the other tank modules into place, also employing an Arctic Type SPMT with 24 axles. The company’s team imported special equipment from Canada and the US via ship, and later transported it to the site after stopping at its headquarters in Belgium. For the lifts, Sarens utilised a winter kit capable of withstanding temperatures of -30˚C to deploy its CC8800-1 BSFVL 108 m crane.

“We are proud to be associated with one of the most important projects in Russia,” said Marco Torri, Key Account Manager at Sarens, “Not only was this an extremely complicated job due to its isolated location, but it was also a project that required temperaturespecial equipment in order to complete the work in very cold temperatures.”

Cranes such as the CC8800-1 with boom booster are essential to such projects due to their heavy lifting capacity. At the project site for Yamal, the 630 t platforms could not have been lifted into place without the equipment supplied by heavy lifters like Sarens or the expertise of the team which is able to operate the machinery and engineer the lifts to be completed swiftly and on schedule.

Figure 4. A Sarens crane lifting a 630 t platform on top of a tank.

As the cleanest fossil fuel, an investment into this ideal alternative to polluting energy sources such as coal has the ability to shift the energy mix for countries on a global scale.

Reports have shown that natural gas is expected to account for one-quarter of the world’s energy mix by 2035, further displaying the impact that this technology will shortly have on the world economy. With the global LNG market projected to see a boom in the coming years, it is important to consider the logistics behind the construction of new plants.

For this reason, investing in the tools needed to efficiently construct such plants is of vital importance, and countries such as the US, Canada, and Qatar are already getting projects underway in their respective regions. Sarens plans to take on similar projects within the sector in the coming years, adding to its LNG portfolio with works in Mozambique and China, supporting one of the most promising, up-and-coming sectors of the energy industry.

Advertiser Page

ACME Cryogenics 51

Air Products 35

Burckhardt Compression 23

Chart 09

Corban Energy Group 05

Elliott Group IFC

Energy Global 44

LNG Industry 48

NIKKISO 02

OLT Offshore LNG Toscana 39 Advertiser Page

Port of Corpus Christi OFC, 31

Smit Lamnalco 13

Stirling Cryogenics B.V. 15

TMEIC Corporation Americas OBC

Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia 47

Uniper SE 19

Watlow 43

World LNG Summit IBC

23rd World Petroleum Congress 20