LNG

Wang to join SSY’s LNG team

Justin Wang is to join shipbroker Simpson Spence Young’s (SSY) LNG team, effective next month. Based in Beijing, Wang will be the first active LNG shipbroker in the Chinese capital and will focus on further expanding SSY’s LNG presence in the region, backed up by the current team based in London, Singapore, and Stamford (Con), with business development offices in Madrid and Mumbai. With over 15 years of commercial maritime experience, Wang has built up an extensive CV in the LNG sector having worked previously at NYK Group, BW Group and more recently at Paris-based shipbroking firm BRS.

Ships - Sales, charters and recycling

Chinese leasing company, China Development Bank Financial Leasing (CDBL) is to purchase two LNGCs from GasLog for a price totalling $284 mill on a five-year lease back basis. According to a stock exchange filing, CDBL signed vessel purchase agreements with Gas-five, an entity indirectly wholly owned by GasLog Partners, and Gas-nine, indirectly wholly owned by GasLog, on 20th March. The vessels involved are the 2012-2013-built 155,000 cu m ‘Gaslog Saratoga’ and ‘Gaslog Sydney’. Following the completion of the deal, CDBL will sign lease agreements with GasLog for five years at an undisclosed fixed rate. Last year, GasLog sold the LNGC 'GasLog Salem’ to a subsidiary of CDBL for $128 mill. Golar LNG Limited has confirmed that the agreement to acquire New Fortress Energy’s (NFE) interest in ‘FLNG Hilli’, effective 1st January, 2023, has closed. In return for NFE’s 50% common unit holding in Golar Hilli LLC, Golar has transferred its remaining 4.1 mill NFE shares to NFE, paid NFE $100 mill in cash, and assumed about $323 mill of the unit’s debt. Excelerate Energy is to purchase the chartered FSRU ‘Excelerate Sequoia’. She is currently operating under a five-year bareboat charter with a purchase option attached from Maran Gas and is operating near Salvador, Brazil. Excelerate has negotiated a $250 mill loan, maturing in March, 2027, to purchase the vessel. She has a storage capacity of 173,400 cu m and is capable of operating as both an FSRU and a fully tradeable LNGC. Excelerate’s CEO, Dana Armstrong, claimed that the acquisition, expected to be completed in April, comes at an attractive price, which is well below current market values. In addition to the $250 mill loan, the company extended the maturity of its existing $350 mill revolving credit facility, which is expected to be used primarily for letters of credit, working capital and other corporate purposes. Elsewhere, Höegh LNG Holdings has completed the acquisition of the 2013-built LNGC ‘Golar Seal’. She will be renamed ‘Hoegh Gandria’. Tsakos’ 2016-built LNGC ‘Maria Energy’ was fixed this month for a minimum of 12-years to an undisclosed Asian natural gas operator at a rate reflective of current market conditions. The vessel is expected to be delivered to her new charterer upon completion of the existing contract in April, 2026 and is expected to generate a minimum of $350 mill in gross revenues. Meanwhile, the 1993-built, 87,305 cu m LNGC ‘Artika’, ex ‘Seapeak Arctic’, was beached at Alang for recycling on 23rd March.

GTT wins sloshing virtual sensor solution contracts

GTT has been chosen by two undisclosed European LNGC owners to equip three vessels with a sloshing virtual sensor, a predictive maintenance solution. This digital technology assesses a ship’s sloshing activity in order to extend the cargo tank entry period. It uses the GTT designed tank digital twin and the vessel’s real-time operational data to monitor the evolution of critical tank integrity parameters. Combined with an appropriate risk analysis, shipowners and charterers are able to optimise the tank maintenance, while complying with strict safety standards, improving operational flexibility and making significant cost savings. Earlier this year, GTT received an Approval in Principle (AiP) for this technology from Lloyd’s Register (LR), following extensive validation work carried out in close collaboration with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company (STASCO). In addition, GTT has created a new brand - Ascenz Marorka. This was achieved by joining together its digitisation subsidiaries - Ascenz, a Singaporean company, which has extensive experience in electronic fuel management and Icelandic based Marorka, which is involved in vessel performance management. GTT also announced that it had received an order from Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) for the tank design of a new FLNG, on behalf of an Asian company. With a total storage capacity of 200,000 cu m, this FLNG will be the first fitted with GTT’s new membrane containment system Mark III Flex. Her delivery is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.

Piombino slot allocations

As a result of the first tranche of regasification capacity for the 20-year period between the thermal years 2023/2024 and 2043/2044, 37 slots per year were allocated at the FSRU Italia Piombino Terminal. The 37 slots were out of a total of 43 slots per year subject to offering, equalling more than 86% of the offered capacity at the terminal. Each slot corresponds to a capacity of 171,920 cu m of LNG or about 105 mill cu m of gas. This result enables the injection into the national transmission network of significant volumes of gas, substantially contributing to the diversification of supplies and security of the natural gas system, the terminal operator claimed. The ‘FSRU Italia’ is the former ‘Golar Tundra’, which arrived onsite Piombino recently.

Rovuma LNG moves ahead

ExxonMobil Moçambique has issued a tender for front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for the Rovuma LNG export plant. This project involves a number of 1.5 mill tonnes per year liquefaction modules, with a total capacity of around 18 mill tonnes per year. The FEED contractor would potentially lead to engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work, the tender advised and it is subject to improvement in the security conditions and a decision on return of activities to the Afungi area of Mozambique. ExxonMobil issued the notice on behalf of Mozambique Rovuma Venture (MRV), the operator of Area 4 in the Rovuma Basin.

Platts to add Bilbao and Mugardos to base delivery ports

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, plans to add Bilbao and Mugardos in northern Spain as base delivery ports reflected in its Market on Close (MoC) assessment process for DES Northwest Europe LNG Marker, effective 18th May. The proposed additions reflect changing trade practices around flexibility provided for cargoes historically categorised as having flexibility for delivery into Northwest Europe, following Platts analysis of market and trade data. Under the proposal, Platts DES NWE Marker assessment would reflect deliveries into Isle of Grain, Zeebrugge, Gate LNG, Dragon LNG, Montoir, South Hook, Dunkirk, Bilbao and Mugardos. Bids and offers into other Northwest European destinations would continue to be considered for publication. Platts is also seeking feedback on whether to remove Bilbao and Mugardos from the Platts DES MED Marker assessment for cargoes into the Mediterranean, which includes all other ports in the Iberian Peninsula and up to Fos Cavaou, it said. Additionally, Platts proposes 30 days ahead of delivery for the seller to state a specific quantity (eg 3.5 TBtu plus/minus 5% operational tolerance) for offers, bids and trades reported in a quantity range in the Atlantic LNG price assessment process. Platts would continue to publish quantity ranges no greater than 0.3 TBtu in offers reported in the MoC process.