TWO state-of-the-art ships commissioned by INEOS to transport tons of liquefied ethane gas from the USA to Europe have been officially named.
JS INEOS Insight and JS INEOS Ingenuity began work in July.
Emblazoned on the side of one of the huge vessels is ‘shale gas for manufacturing’; the other bears the slogan ‘shale gas for chemicals’.
The ships were named at Qidong near Shanghai, where the first of a fleet is being built for INEOS by SINOPACIFIC. Offshore and Engineering, one of the largest shipbuilders in the world.
Each ship is the length of two football pitches and can carry 40,000 barrels of ethane.
Steffen Jacobsen, CEO of Evergas, the Danish gas shipping company that designed, leased and operates the vessels, has worked in the shipping industry for 35 years.
“These ships represent a world first on many levels,” he said. “No-one has ever tried to ship ethane in these quantities and over this distance before. To do this, we had to invent completely new ways of doing things. These ships are truly unique.”
The naming ceremony marked the latest landmark in INEOS’ $1 billion global project to bring shale gas from the USA to its manufacturing plants in Norway and Scotland.
INEOS will be the first company in the world to opt to ship shale-gas derived ethane from America where the gas has led to a renaissance in manufacturing.
Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS founder and chairman, said the scale of the project, which will help revolutionise the European chemicals industry by bringing US economics to Europe, was extraordinary.
“We’re going to move more than 40,000 barrels of gas a day, every day of the year, for 15 years, from the US to Europe,” hesaid. “Any way you look at it, this is an extraordinary achievement.”
