LNG

Chart Industries, the leading US equipment-maker for LNG and industrial and new energy projects, has signed a memorandum of understanding to supply liquefaction process technology, associated equipment as well as a series of fuelling stations for another US company.

Chart said its deal was with BNG Clean Fuel Corp., a private company focused on the delivery of scalable infrastructure solutions for the production, storage, and delivery of hydrogen fuel to the power, marine, rail, oil and gas, mining and transportation industries,.

“Additionally, the companies will collaborate to develop further industry relationships with customers in the end-use industries described above to utilize BNG’s ‘hub, spoke and wheel model’ facilities for hydrogen production, virtual pipeline networks, bulk cargo shipping, and fuel dispensing stations.

Chart said that while no orders had been booked relating to this MOU or project, they are anticipated to be booked in 2023 and 2024 for both the equipment and process technology scope.

BNG is focused on its their Denver H2 pilot hub with dual-22 ton per day capacity hydrogen liquefaction facilities, a centrally located storage terminal, 10 liquid hydrogen stations, tankers and mobile fuelling equipment which will be provided by Chart.

“BNG is taking a pragmatic approach to scaling of the hydrogen economy, with a focus on the hub and spoke model starting in North America,” stated Jill Evanko, Chart’s Chief Executive and President.

“This MOU brings Chart’s extensive technology and equipment experience to the project. We look forward to supporting BNG’s endeavours to deliver another option to the hydrogen end-use market,” it added.

Eliot Barton, CEO of BNG Clean Fuel which is a privately held Delaware Corporation based in Aurora, said he was pleased with the deal.

“In partnering with Chart Industries, BNG has aligned with a recognized global leader in the manufacturing of the highest-quality equipment in the industry,” said Barton.

“This relationship will help solidify our capitalization efforts and attract additional key partners to ensure the success of our first hydrogen hub and rapidly develop other planned regional markets,” he added.

Chart Industries, the US maker of LNG and industrial gases equipment for the energy transition, reported record fourth-quarter and annual orders and is poised to deliver for three major LNG export projects likely to proceed in 2022 on the US Gulf Coast.

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US LNG equipment-maker Chart Industries completes acquisition of the Microbulk cryogenic tank intellectual property, equipment, and other assets from privately-held IC Biomedical.

Chart Industries, the US LNG equipment-maker, said orders in the third quarter rose 7.4 percent from the previous three months as LNG fuel infrastructure demand filled a gap left by a pause in orders from large LNG ventures on the Gulf Coast.

Third-quarter net income rose to $21.7 million compared with $18.80M in the same quarter of 2019.

Orders amounted to $262.7M in the three months, particularly in the Distribution and Storage division for hydrogen equipment, water treatment, LNG regas, ISO containers and repair, service and leasing.

The orders were lower than the $338M achieved in the same three months of 2019, though took the backlog to $684.9M, with record levels seen in both the Distribution & Storage Eastern Hemisphere and Distribution & Storage Western Hemisphere units.

“Orders continued to be very strong for LNG infrastructure related equipment, including the highest trailer order quarter since the third quarter of 2018, continued record levels for fueling stations and record order levels for ISO containers,” said Chart.

Chart added that it continued to see strengthening demand across the business with the exception of its Energy & Chemicals FinFans (E&C FinFans) segment where third- quarter orders were down $28.9M when compared to the third quarter of 2019.

Chart's orders of $262.7M were down slightly from the third quarter of 2019, which included a $6.6M air cooled heat exchanger order for Calcasieu Pass LNG.

D&S West and D&S East orders increased 38 percent and 13.9 percent respectively over the third quarter of 2019.

“The strength of our order activity in the third quarter 2020 included multiple records and a very strong start to October orders, even without all industrial gas customers fully back in the field due to continued Covid-19 restrictions,” stated Jill Evanko, Chart’s Chief Executive and President.

Evanko noted that the company took recent steps to expand its hydrogen product offering and expanded long-term agreements would set the stage for strong 2021 results.

Booked orders were with 147 new customers in the third quarter and in the year-to-date numbered 407.

Chart noted in its highlights that it signed 10 new long-term agreements with major customers, including for repair and service, hydrogen and LNG fueling stations.

The third-quarter 2020 HLNG vehicle tank orders were over $20 million, the second highest quarterly level.

“This has been driven by high demand from our customers on long-term agreements, demand for LNG over-the-road vehicles in geographies outside of Europe, including South America, Russia and Japan, and expanded applications for these tanks such as for LNG buses,” said Chart.

“LNG infrastructure and small-scale applications are continuing to expand, and we expect that to continue over the next several years,” the company explained.

“And while big LNG projects remain on the horizon, final Investment decisions have been delayed. Yet even with those delays, in the third quarter 2020, we received an early engineering release for a big LNG terminal for brazed aluminum heat exchangers and cold boxes to be used on the natural gas pre-treatment Train,” said Chart.

After the third quarter, Chart reported the October 2020 divestiture of the cryobiological business for $320M in cash.

Proceeds were used to pay down debt, close the $10M acquisition of US Worthington Industries cryogenic trailer and hydrogen trailer business in Theodore, Alabama, and to invest in French firm McPhy to expand commercial hydrogen opportunities.

Chart reiterated its full-year 2020 guidance of revenue of $1.18 billion and associated diluted adjusted earnings per share of $2.25.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based company said its full-year 2021 outlook was for revenue of between $1.25Bln and $1.32Bln and associated diluted adjusted EPS of between $3.00 and $3.40.

“As we have said on numerous occasions, we consider ourselves the provider of cryogenic equipment regardless of molecule and we believe that there will be a hybrid of renewable energy sources as the clean energy transition continues,” said Chart.

“Hydrogen will be significant in this transition, and with our 50-plus years of hydrogen equipment experience, we will play a key part in the full hydrogen value chain,” the company added.

Chart Industries, the US supplier of equipment for the industrial gas, energy and liquefied natural gas sectors, also supplies medical oxygen for critical care and had to increase production by over 50 percent to meet continued demand for COVID-19 patients.

This was in addition to lining up LNG fuel products for Royal Dutch Shell and securing its biggest ever industrial gases sale in China.

“All Chart manufacturing locations globally have been deemed essential business by each local and federal government and therefore continue to operate under this status,” said the company in its first-quarter earnings report.

“During March 2020, we increased production on specific medical oxygen related products by over 65 percent in the US and 50 percent in the Czech Republic,” added the Atlanta, Georgia-based Chart.

Additionally, Chart stated that orders for its cryobiological product line used for storage and transport of vaccinations, cell therapy and biological inventory increased by 14 percent to $20.8 million in the first quarter of 2020 when compared to the first quarter of 2019. 

“Typically, my quote would be about the financials and decisive, agile responsiveness during this unprecedented time,” said Chart Chief Executive Jill Evanko.

“The related facts in this release contain that information, but I would like to thank our team members who, as essential personnel, have worked tirelessly and safely to increase production on critical care products that are being used globally to save lives,” stated the CEO.

In its core LNG and industrial gases business Chart’s order backlog of $733M was flat compared with the first quarter of 2019, which included $135M of equipment for US developer Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG project.

Excluding Calcasieu Pass, backlog increased 6.8 percent year on year.

There was a first-quarter order backlog of $151M for the Distribution & Storage Western Hemisphere division, up 18.7 percent and its highest ever.

Overall, first-quarter orders amounted to $304.3M and were 34 percent less than the prior-year quarter.

The first quarter of 2019 had included the Venture Global Calcasieu Pass order ($135M), Golar’s floating “LNG Gimi” tanker conversion project ($20M) and Niche LNG’s small-scale LNG work ($7M).

In the second of its four divisions, Distribution & Storage Eastern Hemisphere, Chart booked 14 LNG fueling stations, which is the same level as the first quarter 2019.

“Additionally, in April we received verbal commitment from Shell for the supply of seven LNG fueling stations,” said Chart.

“Our teams are currently working toward a multiyear long-term contract whereby Shell will place the order for up to four stations in the second quarter of 2020 and three more in 2021,” the company added.

“The multiyear agreement will allow for expansion of these quantities with privileged support to Shell’s business plans and strategy for LNG in Europe,” stated Chart.

Chart said backlog in China was $68M at the end of the first quarter and subsequently the company received its largest industrial gas order in its history from China in early April, though gave no details.

Chart also received a letter of intent for process technology and associated equipment for Eagle LNG’s Jacksonville project in Florida.

Industrial plant orders of $4.7M were received by its Energy & Chemicals Cryogenics division for retrofitting a refinery with air cooled heat-exchangers.

Chart’s fourth division, called E&C FinFans, recorded its highest orders in the first quarter compared with the previous three quarters, including $23M in the month of March.

“This is specific to air coolers, and we expect fans products to continue to grow year-over-year,” said Chart.

Chart Industries, the US supplier of equipment for the industrial gas, energy and liquefied natural gas sectors, reported an almost 24 percent rise in orders to a record $1.41 billion combining LNG fuel, rail, trucking and plant equipment.

Chart Industries, the maker of equipment for the liquefied natural gas and industrial gas industries, and Energy Capital Vietnam, a southeast Asian-focused asset management firm, have signed an accord to promote the distribution of liquefied natural gas within Vietnam with Chart as the supplier of downstream equipment.

Chart Industries, the maker of equipment for the liquefied natural gas and industrial gas industries, posted a surge in revenues as it benefited from orders across all sectors from large liquefaction plants to small-scale LNG while benefiting from contributions from its acquisitions.

Chart Industries, the US LNG and industrial gases equipment provider, has received commitments for $1.1 billion in financing to help fund the acquisition and integration of Harsco Corp.’s industrial Air-X-Changers business, Harsco AXC.