LNG

March 1 (LNGJ) - Fluxys Belgium and Fluxys LNG have reached agreement with the Belgian Federal Commission for Electricity and Gas Regulation (CREG) to propose to the market some adjustments to the tariff methodology. “In an environment characterised by high inflation and volatile and rising interest rates, these adjustments will allow Fluxys Belgium's margin to reach a fair level for the period 2024-2027,” said Fluxys.

   Fluxys Belgium and the regulator have agreed on certain changes they wish to make to the tariff methodology for the natural gas transmission system, the natural gas storage facility and the LNG terminal at Zeebrugge for the regulatory period 2024-2027. “They believe that these changes are necessary to guarantee the system operators a fair return on the capital invested in the regulated assets, and to enable them to make necessary investments,” the statement added.

Dec 21 (LNGJ) – Four cargoes are heading for Belgium and Germany in the next week from Russia, Qatar, Angola and the US state of Louisiana. The carrier “Eduard Toll” with 177,000 cubic metres capacity is expected to arrive at the Belgian LNG import terminal at Zeebrugge with a Russian cargo. The shipment was lifted on December 19 from the Yamal plant near the port of Sabetta in northern Siberia, according to shipping data. The Qatari carrier “Al Khor” with 135,295 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to deliver a cargo to Zeebrugge on December 27, lifted from Ras Laffan in the Gulf on December 2.

   The other cargoes are heading for Germany in the next week. The “Sonangol Sambizanga” with capacity of 160,500 cubic metres is scheduled to discharge a cargo from Angola on December 24 at the floating terminal in the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven. The shipment was lifted on December 8 from the southwest African nation’s export plant at Soyo. Another vessel heading for Germany is the “Marvel Falcon” with 174,000 cubic metres capacity. The ship is scheduled to berth with a US cargo on December 25 at the Brunsbüttel terminal on the Elbe. The volumes were loaded on December 10 at the Cameron LNG plant in Louisiana.

Dec 5 (LNGJ) - Cargoes are heading to Germany, the UK and Belgium in the next week from Angola, the US and Qatar. The LNG carrier “Cubal” with 155,000 cubic metres capacity is due to unload a cargo on December 8 at the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven. The cargo was lifted on November 25 from the Soyo plant in the southwest African nation, according to shipping data.

   The “Gaslog Galveston” with 174,240 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to discharge a US cargo on December 9 at the UK South Hook import terminal at the port of Milford Haven. The cargo was lifted on November 21 from the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana. The Qatari Q-Flex vessel “Tembek” with 211,880 of capacity is due to deliver a cargo from Qatar on December 9 to the Belgian import terminal at Zeebrugge. The shipment was loaded on November 18 at Ras Laffan in the Gulf.

Belgian shipping company Exmar, which chartered a regasification barge to the Netherlands and sold a floating LNG production vessel to Italy’s Eni for deployment offshore  the Republic of Congo, is completing its take-over by Saverex NV, the holding company of the family of Exmar Executive Chairman Nicolas Saverys and additionally reported solid third-quarter earnings.

“The Congo LNG project is entering a new phase with ENI’s ‘Tango FLNG’ and Exmar’s ‘Excalibur’ heading for Congo for installation and start-up by December 2023,” Exmar stated.

The Antwerp, Belgium-based shipping and infrastructure company reported third-quarter revenues of $345.4 million, up from $95.6M in the same three months of 2022.

Exmar said adjusted gross earnings amounted to $140.5M compared with $52.6M in the prior-year quarter.

Eemshaven LNG

“The increase in revenue in the first nine months of 2023 versus 2022 reflects the full impact of the employment of the FSRU ‘Eemshaven LNG’ and the LNG carrier ‘Excalibur’ as well as the engineering, procurement and conversion works for the Congo LNG project with Eni,” Exmar explained.

The company pointed out that September 2022 gross earnings (EBITDA) were positively impacted by a $315.6M gain on the sale of “Tango FLNG” to Eni.

Exmar noted that on October 21 Eni, Dry Docks World Dubai and Exmar celebrated the “sail away” of the “Tango FLNG” and Excalibur floating storage unit (FSU) vessels from Dubai to Congo for use in Eni’s LNG project.

“Exmar with its expertise in LNG infrastructure and serving as the engineering, procurement and conversion contractor for this project, has designed the mooring system (Exmar Offshore Company) and performed the refurbishments on both vessels at Dry Docks World yard in Dubai,” the company explained.

The LNG carrier “Excalibur” is on hire to Eni Congo for use as the FSU in the Congo LNG project.

The FSRU “Eemshaven LNG” is on charter to a unit of Dutch utility Gasunie called the EemsEnergyTerminal BV.

“The FSRU has been running steadily at lower capacity during summer time and is now scaling up for the winter season,” Exmar stated.

Shipping earnings

Exmar added that shipping division revenues rose to $110.6M versus $108.7M in the same quarter last year.

In its shipping division, Exmar retains an extensive fleet including three Very Large Gas Carriers, 17 mid-sized liquefied petroleum gas carriers, two newbuilds and 10 pressurised carriers.

Exmar said that Time Charter Equivalent Rates for Midsized vessels rose to $25,656 per day from $23,916 per day.

The VLGC TCE rates increased to $42,229 per from $39,091 a day and rates for pressurised tankers of 5,000 cubic metres capacity rose to $9,097 per day from $8,530 per day.

The company also made an investment in the drilling sector with Vantage Drilling International, buying a stake of 11.5 percent.

“Vantage is a player in offshore oil and natural gas well drilling services, with a fleet comprising of two ultra-deep-water drill ships and two premium jack-up rigs, listed on the US OTC market under VTDRF,” Exmar said.

“This strategic investment is driven by promising value due to continued under-investment in the offshore drilling market. After over two decades, Exmar re-enters the drilling sector, further expanding its role in the energy value chain,” the company added.

On the takeover bid, Exmar said that the reopening of the acceptance period of the voluntary public takeover bid launched by Saverex for all shares and share option in Exmar ended on Friday, September 15. 

Due to this process, Saverex holds a total of more than 47.81 million shares in Exmar, representing 80.36 percent of the outstanding shares.

The shares in Exmar held by Nicolas Saverys (7,924 shares) and by Exmar (2.02M shares) as well as by Saverex and persons affiliated amount to over 49.83M shares, representing 83.76 percent of Exmar.

Oct 12 (LNGJ) - Belgium is due to receive cargoes from both the US and Russia in the next week. The carrier “Hellas Diana” with 174,100 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to deliver a US cargo on October 15 to the Zeebrugge terminal in Belgium, according to shipping data. The volumes were lifted on October 1 from the Freeport facility in Texas. The Cypriot-flagged vessel “Fedor Litke” with 177,000 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to discharge a Russian cargo on October 17 at the Zeebrugge terminal. The cargo was loaded on October 10 at the Sabetta export plant on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula in northern Siberia.

Oct 5 (LNG) - Two cargoes are heading for Belgium and the Netherlands later in October. The vessel “Adriano Knutsen” with 178,980 cubic metres of capacity is due to arrive with a US cargo on October 18 at the Dutch Eemshaven floating import facilities in Groningen. The cargo was loaded on October 3 at the Cameron export plant in Louisiana, according to shipping data. The carrier “Umm Bab” with 143,700 cubic metres of capacity is scheduled to deliver a cargo from Qatar on October 21 to the Zeebrugge terminal in Belgium. The shipment was lifted on October 3 at Ras Laffan.

Oman, the liquefied natural gas exporter with a range of new supply deals, is proceeding with an initial public offering through October 9 for 49 percent of Oman Gas Networks (OQGN), the holder of the concession covering natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the Arabian Peninsula Sultanate for the next 70 years.

June 20 (LNGJ) - Two LNG cargoes were headed for Germany and Belgium in the days ahead. The “Marvel Kite” carrier with 174,000 cubic metres capacity was scheduled to deliver a US cargo on June 23 to the German import terminal at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven. The cargo was lifted on June 9 from the Freeport plant in Texas.

   The “Methane Jane Elizabeth” with 145,000 cubic metres capacity was due to discharge a Qatari cargo on June 25 at the Zeebrugge terminal in Belgium. The cargo was loaded on June 4 at Ras Laffan.

June 1 (LNGJ) - The Belgian LNG import terminal at Zeebrugge is scheduled to receive two deliveries on June 5, one from Qatar and one from Russia, according io shipping data, The “Vladimir Vize” with 172,600 cubic metres capacity is scheduled to deliver a cargo from the Yamal LNG plant at Sabetta lifted on May 26. The “Al Wakrah” with 135,360 cubic metres capacity will deliver the Qatari cargo loaded at Ras Laffan on May 15.

The Dutch Gate LNG import terminal in Rotterdam said that UK major BP and a subsidiary of Chinese major PetroChina would each separately acquire 2 million cubic metres per annum of regasification and corresponding storage capacity as part of the expansion plans of the facility in the Netherlands.