Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd has signed a contract for three LNG tanks to be constructed at CPC Corporation's Taichung LNG receiving terminal. The contract, worth approximately 27 billion yen, will be fulfilled by a Kawasaki-led consortium with RSEA Engineering Corporation, a leading construction firm in Taiwan. The facility is scheduled to be completed in December 2018.
CPC, a government-owned oil and gas company, is planning to expand the Taichung LNG receiving terminal. The order includes three aboveground LNG storage tanks with a capacity of 160,000 m3. These tanks consist of an inner tank built with cryogenic materials and an outer tank made of prestressed concrete, with an insulation layer in between to keep LNG at a temperature of -162°C. The order also includes a submerged pump and auxiliary facilities such as cryogenic piping.
With the public increasingly calling for a shift away from nuclear power, the government in Taiwan recently decided to import more LNG from producers in the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. As the only LNG operator in the country, CPC, which is already running its current facilities at full load, is faced with an urgent need to expand the LNG receiving capacity to meet the increased demand.
The latest order serves as a testament to Kawasaki's cost competitiveness as well as its overall technological capabilities.
Kawasaki currently boasts a share of over 50% in the domestic market for large LNG tanks. Overseas, Kawasaki is constructing two LNG tanks and two LPG tanks for the Ichthys project in Australia, led by Inpex Corporation. Further, Kawasaki is leveraging its design and engineering know-how in a technical partnership with Tecnicas Reunidas, S.A., a Spanish engineering firm, for the construction of four LNG tanks in Chile and China.
Kawasaki will position LNG tanks as a core product as it promotes its business activities around the world.