LNG

Avenir LNG, a company owned by Norwegian shipping and infrastructure companies, said its newest 7,500 cubic metres capacity LNG bunkering vessel has been launched in China and it would be delivered later in 2021.

Avenir LNG Ltd, a company owned by Norwegian shipping and infrastructure companies, has delivered its first dual-purpose liquefied natural gas bunkering and supply vessel (LBV), the “Avenir Advantage”, to the Future Horizon joint venture comprising Malaysia’s MISC Group and Avenir.

The ship was constructed by Keppel Offshore and Marine at the Nantong Shipyard in China’s eastern Jiangsu province.

“With the delivery of the ‘Avenir Advantage’, Future Horizon is the first dedicated LBV commercial operator in Southeast Asia,” said Avenir

Additionally, Malaysian energy company Petronas has chartered the “Avenir Advantage” from Future Horizon for a period of three years.

“Following her maiden voyage from China, the ‘Avenir Advantage’ has successfully completed the commissioning of the LNG re-loading equipment on the ‘FSU Tenaga Satu’ and the first LNG bunkering of the ‘SIEM Aristotle’ car carrier,” explained Avenir

The “Avenir Advantage” will supply the region’s LNG-fuelled vessels and small-scale LNG projects.

“We are very proud to deliver the first dedicated LNG bunker vessel in Southeast Asia,” said Milorad Doljanin, Chief Executive of Avenir

“With the backing of Petronas’s LNG supply infrastructure, LNG is undeniably a reliable and cost-effective solution to meeting the sulphur cap regulations set by the International Maritime Organization in 2020,” added Doljanin.

“Further to the provision of LNG as a bunker fuel, the delivery of the ‘Avenir Advantage’ means that Petronas now has the infrastructure in place to support the rapid deployment of small-scale supply chains and we are proud to be working with Petronas as envisaged under our previously announced arrangements,” he explained

Avenir LNG is a joint venture owned by London-based Norwegian shipping and storage company Stolt-Nielsen and its peer fleet owners and project companies, Höegh LNG and Golar LNG.

The “Avenir Advantage” is the first of two ships ordered from the Keppel Nantong shipyard.

Each vessel has a cargo capacity of 7,500 cubic metres capacity with two Type-C storage tanks.

Stolt-Nielsen started up small-scale LNG sector firm Avenir in 2015 and its two newer investors, Golar and Höegh, each have 22.5 percent of Avenir to Stolt-Nielsen’s 45 percent.

The experienced shipping partners of Avenir are aiming to build up the market in small-scale LNG supply to off-grid industry for power generation and transportation fuel, as well as providing infrastructure to support the development of LNG as a marine fuel.

Avenir additionally has an 80 percent stake in a small-scale LNG import project company Higas on the Italian island of Sardinia, while the local partners are Gas & Heat and CPL Concordia, each holding 10 percent of the Sardinia venture.