LNG

The cooperation of French energy major Total with China in large-scale liquefied natural gas investments in Russia's Arctic region projects has extended to small-scale LNG with the completion of its first bunkering vessel at the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding yard near Shanghai.

The Japanese-French European LNG bunkering joint venture of Mitsubishi Corp, NYK Line and the utility Engie has signed a firm deal to sell fuel for LNG-powered crude oil shuttle tankers owned by Norwegian energy company Equinor.

Equinor’s deal is for bunkering for four shuttle tankers, mainly in the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

Equinor, which itself operates the Hammerfest LNG production plant in northern Norway, said its vessels are scheduled to enter service in early 2020 and will operate in Northwest European waters within an Emission Control Area covering the Baltic and the North Sea.

The vessels also enter operations at the start of the global sulfur cap being introduced from 2020 under International Maritime Organization rules.

The Japanese-French maritime fueling venture for LNG, known as “Gas4Sea”, has operated with one bunkering vessel called “Engie Zeebrugge” since 2017.

The 5,000 cubic metres capacity ship is based in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge where it performs ship-to-ship bunkering operations.

The first customer of the Engie-led bunkering venture was United European Car Carriers (UECC) for several LNG-powered vessels it operates.

“Gas4Sea is a commercial brand to develop the use of LNG as a sustainable, reliable, safe and cost-effective alternative to conventional oil-based marine fuels,” said Engie.

“Its purpose and ambition is to accompany the shipping sector in the upcoming transition towards a greener maritime environment, in Europe and worldwide,” added the French company.

Four Japanese companies have formed two joint ventures to develop the LNG bunkering market in the ports of Japan, similar to operations started in the northwest European ports of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Zeebrugge in Belgium.

Fluxys Belgium, the transmission network company and operator of the Zeebrugge LNG terminal, posted a rise in profits of around 45 percent, boosted by tax reforms while also benefiting from the closure of the main UK gas storage expansion of its own LNG offerings of truck fuel and small-scale cargo loadings.

March 8 (LNGJ) - Engie, the French utility that has been disposing of LNG and other assets, posted annual group net income from continuing operations of 1.42 billion euros ($1.75Bln), including one-time gains, compared with losses of 415 million euros in 2016. “This improvement takes into account lower impairment losses, gains on the disposal of the thermal merchant power plant assets in the United States, Poland and the United Kingdom, as well as on the disposal of a non-consolidated interest in Petronet LNG in India,” said Engie. The company’s net debts were at the equivalent of $28 billion. In November 2017, Engie also signed a sales agreement with Total for its upstream and midstream LNG activities and this was expected to close in several months.

Elengy, the French liquefied natural gas terminal operator, said it can point users of its regasification facilities at Montoir-de-Bretagne on the Atlantic Coast and at Fos Tonkin near the Mediterranean port of Marseilles to more downstream marketing opportunities.

Norwegian energy company Statoil has chosen a joint venture comprising French energy company Engie and two Japanese partners to supply LNG marine fuel in the Dutch port of Rotterdam for four crude oil shuttle tankers.

The LNG bunkering vessel “Engie Zeebrugge”, set to operate in northwest Europe, has performed its first regular deliveries of fuel to two new gas-propelled pure car and truck carriers in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

The world’s first purpose-built liquefied natural gas bunkering vessel, the “Engie Zeebrugge”, has completed its first loading operation at the Belgian port and import terminal of Zeebrugge as it prepares to play its part in the growing LNG fuel market for shipping.

The French energy company Engie has taken delivery of a joint venture bunkering vessel to be based at the Zeebrugge liquefied natural gas import terminal in Belgium to lead the development of the LNG fuel market for shipping.