LNG

Romania to take gas from Alexandroupolis

Romania’s integrated energy and power infrastructure company, Premier Energy has started to procure LNG through the Greek Alexandroupolis terminal. Premier Energy is to procure an LNG cargo shipment of 1 mill MWh, equivalent to around 100 mill cu m, for the forthcoming gas year running from October, 2026 to 30th September, 2027, the company said in a statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange. It will receive natural gas from the Alexandroupolis LNG terminal on a daily basis throughout the gas year, diversifying its natural gas sourcing strategy across the Central and Southeastern European region. In connection with the LNG procurement, the company has agreed a trade and commodities finance facility with French financial services firm Natixis. The facility includes a letter of guarantee of up to €53 mill supporting the company’s obligations to the LNG terminal and up to €45 mill in financing for the purchase of the LNG cargo, scheduled for delivery in April, 2027. Alexandroupolis provides access to cross-border interconnections, allowing natural gas flows to Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Hungary. Premier Energy secured capacity at the terminal in 2020.

GTT receives order to design two Tsakos LNGCs’ tanks

French engineering group, GTT has received an order from HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) for the tank design of two new LNGCs, under construction for Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN). The 174,000 cu m LNGCs will be built by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and their cryogenic tanks will be fitted with GTT’s Mark III Flex membrane containment system. Delivery of the vessels is expected by the first quarter of 2029.

K-LNG set to become Asia’s largest LNGC operator

As a result of an announcement a couple of weeks ago, South Korea’s SK Shipping is set to become Asia’s largest LNGC operator under the name of K-LNG. This will involve SK Shipping and H-Line Shipping swapping vessels and long-term contracts. Both companies are controlled by South Korean private equity firm, Hahn & Co, which acquired a controlling stake in SK Shipping in 2018 and created H-Line Shipping in 2014 through the acquisition of Hanjin Shipping's long-term drybulk business. Under the deal, SK Shipping will receive 16 LNGCs and their related long-term contracts from H-Line Shipping in exchange for 12 tankers, their long-term contracts and about $300 mill in cash. After the transaction, SK Shipping will operate 32 LNGCs and 14 LPG carriers, under the name of K-LNG, becoming the third-largest LNGC operator globally, Hahn & Co claimed. Hahn & Co said that the reshuffle would improve scale and operating efficiencies at both companies and will allow K-LNG to benefit from growing LNG demand.

Ships - Deliveries, sales

ADNOC Logistics and Services (ADNOC L&S) has exercised options for another two newbuilding 175,000 cu m LNGCs at Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai, China for a total of around $444 mill for delivery in 2029. At least two of the vessels are to be deployed on long-term charters. Including this latest order, ADNOC reported that it had committed $2.7 bill in vessel acquisitions and newbuildings thus far this year. Japan’s shipping giant Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has completed its six-vessel LNGC newbuilding programme for China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), following the naming of the last vessel in the series at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding. The 174,000 cu m‘Greenergy Cloud’ brings the construction programme to a close and is the sixth LNGC covered by a long-term charter agreement that MOL signed with CNOOC Gas & Power Singapore Trading & Marketing in January, 2022. Elsewhere, QatarEnergy took delivery of the 174,000 cu m ’Al Sabsab’ from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding during the middle of this month. The ship is powered by a X-DF dual-fuel diesel engine equipped with an intelligent control by exhaust recycling (ICER) system and is operating under a long-term charter with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL). According to TradeWinds, at least one of the QatarEnergy newbuildings ordered by JP Morgan has been sublet to Equinor, due to the situation in the Middle East. China’s Jiangsu Yangzi Xinfu Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group has delivered its first LNGC built by the privately owned company. The 175,000 cu m LNGC, ‘Yangze LNG 01’, brings the number of Chinese shipyards with proven track records in building and delivering large LNGCs up to five. She is classed by Bureau Veritas (BV) and was built for a Mercuria Trading charter. Elsewhere, ‘Konstantin Posiet’, Russia's second domestically built Ice Class LNGC recently left Bolshoy Kamen Bay in Primorsky Krai heading for the Northern Sea Route (NSR). She was built at the Zvezda shipyard as one of a series ordered to operate from the sanctioned Arctic LNG 2 export plant. According to LSEG data, ‘Konstantin Posiet’ was due to arrive at an undisclosed destination on 30th August. BW LNG has reportedly sold the 2005-built, steam powered ‘LNG Oyo’ to interests connected with Indonesia’s Berlian Laju. In addition, Karpowership was thought to be behind the purchase of the steam powered LNGC ‘Arctic Voyager’, which had been redelivered from an Equinor charter. It was thought she was bought for a conversion project.