Section 1 General

1.1.1  The goal of the Rules contained in this Section is to provide for the safe regasification of liquefied natural gas (LNG), minimising the risk to the barge or offshore unit, its crew and to the environment by specifying requirements for the design, construction and installation of regasification systems on board barges or offshore units having regard to the nature of the products including; flammability, toxicity, asphyxiation, corrosivity, reactivity, temperature and pressure.

1.2.1  The requirements of these Rules apply to barges and offshore units that are equipped with regasification systems and associated sub-systems.

1.2.2  Dependent on the barge or offshore unit service and regasification operational location, requirements additional to these Rules may be imposed by the National Authority with whom the barge or offshore unit is registered and/or by the Administration within whose territorial jurisdiction the barge or offshore unit is intended to operate.

1.2.3  The Rules do not repeat the general requirements for fire safety as stated in statutory conventions. These Rules do, however, include fire safety requirements additional to those stated in the statutory conventions that are specific to the construction and equipment of regasification systems.

1.2.4  Unless requested, classification will not include those systems which are additional to the regasification, heating and ‘send-out’ process equipment such as; blending facilities, odorizers, or dew point correction/dehumidification, except where the design and/or arrangements of such equipment and piping may affect the safety of the vessel.

1.4.1  The regasification plant and its sub-systems and equipment shall be installed and tested to the Surveyor’s satisfaction.

1.4.3  Surveys referred to in Pt 11, Ch 20, 1.4 Survey 1.4.2 are to be in accordance with Pt 1, Ch 3, 6 Machinery Surveys – General requirements, Pt 1, Ch 3, 9 Electrical equipment, Pt 1, Ch 3, 14 Process plant facility, Pt 1, Ch 3, 17 Pressure vessels for process and drilling plant and Pt 1, Ch 3, 18 Inert gas systems, as applicable.

1.4.4  In addition to the survey and certification of equipment required by relevant Sections of these Rules, the major items of equipment included in the regasification system are required to be constructed under survey at the manufacturer’s works. These include, but are not limited to, vaporisers, heat exchangers and their circulating pumps, LNG booster pumps and gas compressors.

1.4.5  Where the ✠Lloyd’s RGP+ notation is assigned, the means of providing continuing operation in the event of a single failure, as demonstrated in the dependability assessment, see Pt 11, Ch 20, 3.3 System dependability, is to be examined and tested as part of the commissioning trials, see Pt 11, Ch 20, 8.2 Commissioning regasification trials, to ascertain that the system will continue to operate.

1.4.6  The condition of the regasification system shall be maintained in accordance with the provisions of these Rules to ensure that the system remains fit to operate without danger to the barge, offshore unit or persons and without presenting unreasonable threat of harm to the marine environment.

1.4.7  After any survey of the regasification system has been completed, no change should be made in the structure, equipment, fittings, arrangements and material covered by the survey, without the sanction of LR, except by direct replacement.

1.4.8  Wherever an accident occurs to a regasification system or a defect is discovered, either of which affects the safety of the barge, offshore unit or regasification system, the efficiency or completeness of its life-saving appliances or other equipment covered by these Rules, the Operator or Owner of the barge or offshore unit should report at the earliest opportunity to LR, who should cause investigations to be initiated to determine whether a survey, as required by Pt 11, Ch 20, 1.4 Survey 1.4.2.(e), is necessary.

1.4.9  Unless they form part of the classed equipment, surveys will not include those systems which are additional to the send-out process plant equipment, such as blending facilities, odorizers, dew point correction/dehumidification, except where the design and/or arrangements of such equipment and piping may affect the safety of the barge or offshore unit.

1.5.1  Area means a defined location. An area can be on open deck. An area can be open, semi-enclosed or enclosed. An area can be a space below deck. An area can be hazardous or none-hazardous.

1.5.2  Blowdown is defined as the depressurisation of a system, part of a system and its equipment to allow the safe disposal of both vapour and liquid discharged from blowdown valves. Depressurisation is used to mitigate the consequences of a pipeline or vessel leak by reducing the leakage rate and/or inventory within the pipe or vessel prior to a potential failure.

1.5.3  Dependability is as defined in IEC 60050(191): Quality vocabulary – Part 3: Availability, reliability and maintainability terms – Section 3.2: Glossary of international terms. It is the collective term used to describe the availability performance and its influencing factors: reliability performance, maintainability performance and maintenance support performance and relates to essential services as agreed with LR. Note: Dependability is used only for general descriptions in non-quantitative terms.

1.5.4  Enclosed space is any space within which, in the absence of artificial ventilation, the ventilation will be limited and any explosive atmosphere will not be dispersed naturally. In practical terms, this is a space bounded either on all sides, or all but one side, by bulkheads and decks irrespective of openings, such that the required ventilation rate to prevent the accumulation of pockets of stagnant air cannot be achieved by natural ventilation alone.

1.5.6 Gasification is the process of heating a saturated vapour (NG) by the addition of heat from an external source, above its saturation temperature.

1.5.7 'Gas Safe Space' is a space that lies wholly outside a gas dangerous space or zone or is one that is engineered as a gas safe place within certain gas dangerous spaces or zones as required in these Rules.

1.5.8 Hazardous area is as defined in IEC 60079-10-1: Explosive atmospheres – Part 10-1: Classification of areas –Explosive gas atmospheres.

1.5.9 High pressure refers to systems, equipment and components containing LNG with a design pressure greater than 10 bar g.

1.5.10 Novel design: designs of machinery and engineering systems that are considered by LR to be unconventional.

1.5.12 Regasification System is the complete gasification process plant from LNG storage tanks to the gas export (send-out) shore connection including regasification unit, suction drum, associated pumping, piping and sub-systems.

1.5.13 Regasification Unit is referring to vaporisers, heaters, LNG booster pump and associated piping intended for the gasification of LNG from the storage tanks.

1.5.14 Risk assessment is the evaluation of likelihood and consequence together with a judgement on the significance of the result, see IEC/ISO 31010: Risk management, risk assessment techniques.

1.5.15 Risk: the combination of the likelihood of an event and its consequence. Likelihood may be expressed as a probability or a frequency.

1.5.16 Send-out is the discharge of the high pressure gas after the vaporisation and heating process. Send-out may include additional processes, such as trim heating, calorific correction, odorization, or dew point correction/ dehumidification.

1.5.17 Vaporisation is the controlled boiling of a liquid (in this case LNG) due to the addition of heat from an external source.

1.5.18 Vent Mast: Discharges from relief valves and purging systems are carried to the atmosphere through vent masts, the outlets of which are designed to promote vapour dispersal and reduce the risk of flammable mixtures being produced.

1.5.19  Other appropriate definitions as indicated in other Chapters of these Rules and the Rules for Ships.