When the Society of International Gas Tanker & Terminal Operators (SIGTTO) holds its Middle East forum in Doha today, it will be against a backdrop of a changing world industry with new players entering the market and an ever evolving need for technical know-how and skilled staff.
SIGTTO, which was granted observer status at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in 1982, represents nearly all of the world’s LNG and more than 50% of LPG business. 
Gulf Times spoke to SIGTTO’s general manager Andrew Clifton and technical adviser, captain Cherian Oommen at their London headquarters to learn more about the organisation’s work around the world and the upcoming Doha meeting. 
Several major Qatari companies, including RasGas, Qatargas, Qatar Shipping and Qatar Petroleum are part of SIGTTO’s 200 strong global membership. Doha is a natural choice to hold the regional forum given the scale of Qatar’s LNG (liquefied natural gas) industry. 
Clifton said, “77mn tonnes of the 245mn tonnes of LNG exported last year industry wide came from RasGas. Qatar is the major player in LNG and a big supporter of SIGTTO. We have a very close contacts with Qatar; Qatargas and RasGas sit on our technical general purposes committee and Nakilat sits on our board of directors. They have played a major role in the society over the last 20 years. We also go to the Qatari LNG Ship Owners’ forums in London.”
It is a testimony to the effectiveness of SIGTTO, which issues best practice recommendations widely adopted as in-company regulations world-wide and the industry has an unprecedented safety record. 
“Over the last 52 years of LNG shipping, some 85,000 cargoes have been carried without any major incidents,” Clifton said. 
SIGTTO is also aware that safety is something that needs constant vigilance, transparency and sharing of knowledge to assess and manage risk. Clifton said as the industry expands, there is concern about a skills shortage. 
“Today we have a skills shortage. We have 470 LNG vessels in operation now and 160 on order. That involves a lot of technical personnel. You can’t take someone off a container ship and put them straight onto an LNG carrier. There is a period of time involved in training that person to the required standards and costs to factor in. 
“The operators have the overall responsibility to make up that skills gap but they look to us for guidance. One of the major reasons why the LNG industry has such a good safety record is that it has always operated in excess of the minimum standards.”
Captain Oommen will organise the Doha forum and one of the presentations will introduce a new publication by Witherby Publishing Group, a specialist publisher of regulatory, technical and operational marine and insurance publications. It is compiling an LNG terminal information data base related to accessing and exiting a berth safely, including detailed profiles of channels, layouts, mooring arrangements on the jetties and communications.
At the Doha forum members will raise any technical issues they might have, discuss the latest industry developments and pool their expertise and experience to build the safest possible environment.
After Doha, Captain Oommen will fly to Mumbai to organise the first ever SIGTTO regional forum to be held in India. India has major plans for importing natural gas which means developing new terminals and expanding its ever growing national pipeline network. The country, says Clifton, is expected to be a key player in the future. 
He described some of the seismic changes in the industry in recent years. “The shale industry in the US has been a complete game-changer,” he said. He noted the demand for the shale by-product – ethane. The UK took delivery of its first cargo of ethane in September at its Grangemouth facility.
“The US is producing huge volumes of ethane and their only option is to export it. They can’t flare it off due to environmental requirements. Demand for ethane is likely to grow as there are huge quantities at a very low price. It’s cheaper to ship it in specialised vessels than use decaying pipelines.”
The safety requirements for carrying ethane, LNG and LPG are being constantly updated and refined. SIGTTO is currently drawing up specialist guidelines on ship design, manifold connections and loading arms.




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