Sweden: Trelleborg Buys Cryogenic Technology from SBM

Trelleborg has, through its business area Trelleborg Industrial Solutions, signed and finalized an agreement to acquire SBM Offshore’s cryogenic hose system technology. The transaction will strengthen Trelleborg’s offering of innovative and critical products and solutions for the growing floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) market.

FLNG is a cost-effective and flexible solution for commercializing new gas discoveries in deep-water locations. The acquired SBM Offshore technology will be embedded in and strengthen Trelleborg’s development of cryogenic hose systems for offloading LNG, an area in which there are currently few qualified solutions.

“For some time now, Trelleborg has held a leading global position within oil hose systems for offshore offloading. With the acquired technology from SBM Offshore, we will strengthen our total offering within offloading oil and gas, while SBM Offshore will remain a strategic partner to Trelleborg in terms of the development of offloading technologies,” says Mikael Fryklund, President of the Trelleborg Industrial Solutions business area.

“Historically, LNG offloading has solely been conducted at fixed installations connected to land. The technology is now being developed to take full advantage of the benefits offered by offshore offloading of FLNG. This shift creates new technological challenges requiring a more flexible offloading system that enables the extraction of LNG in more demanding environments – without extended downtime and with a significantly reduced risk. Our ongoing development project for this new technology is now further strengthened through the acquisition from SBM Offshore, thus providing the FLNG market – which requires products with high technology content – with the potential to become a considerable market for us in a few years’ time,” concludes Mikael Fryklund.

Trelleborg is developing its cryogenic hose system in partnership with Saipem, a leading supplier to the oil and gas industry. In parallel, Trelleborg is also developing a cooling seawater suction hose system, also for the FLNG market. While both of these hose systems are expected to go to market in 2014, the technologies are already part of future LNG project proposals.

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LNG World News Staff, September 3, 2013; Image: SBM