LNG

Golar LNG, which has an operated and owned fleet of 28 vessels, reported a more than four-fold increase in losses as it reorganized the business following the sale of the Hygo Energy stake and Golar LNG Partners to New York-based LNG-to-power firm New Fortress Energy.

Brazilian state oil and gas company, Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), has disqualified a tender from Excelerate Energy of the US after it was the only commercial proposal received in the bidding for the Salvador liquefied natural gas import terminal in Bahia state in northeast Brazil.

Golar LNG Ltd shares plunged almost 8 percent after Chief Executive Iain Ross resigned after nearly four years with the Norwegian-founded LNG shipping and projects company as it was completing the sell-off of assets to US LNG-for-power projects company New Fortress Energy.

The Norwegian small-scale LNG business of Stolt-Nielsen and partners Höegh LNG and Golar LNG has taken delivery of another gas supply and bunkering vessel (LBV) from the Keppel Offshore and Marine shipyard in the Chinese port of Nantong.

The Nordic joint venture called Avenir LNG has named its second 7,500 cubic metres capacity dual-purpose LBV, the “Avenir Accolade”, and it is now available.

The company said the “Avenir Accolade” would enter a three-year bareboat charter to LNG Power Limited, a subsidiary of Hygo Energy Transition to support Hygo’s developments in northeast Brazil.

This is the Avenir joint venture’s first entry into the Latin American LNG market.

Stolt-Nielsen, whose headquarters are in London, started up the small-scale LNG sector firm Avenir in 2015 and its two main investors, Golar and Höegh, each have 22.5 percent of Avenir.

The company said that the “Avenir Accolade” would soon be delivering LNG to Hygo’s customers along the Brazilian coastline.

“Fitted with specialised LNG handling equipment, she will be capable of unloading LNG directly into trucks for onward distribution across Brazil,” said Avenir.

The Hygo company was formerly known as Golar Power and is being acquired by New York-Based New Fortress Energy.

In addition to the growing small-scale LNG fleet, Avenir has an 80 percent stake in a small-scale LNG import project on the Italian island of Sardinia and set to start up soon.

Peter Mackey, Chief Executive of Avenir, said the company strategy was progressing on schedule.

“This is a transformational year for Avenir LNG as we commission our onshore LNG terminal in Sardinia in the coming weeks and continue to expand our fleet with the addition of four more newbuild vessels by year-end,” Mackey explained.

Avenir’s largest bunkering vessel, the “Avenir Allegiance” with 20,000 cubic metres capacity, entered the water in January 2021 at the Zhoushan Changhong Sinopacific shipyard in China’s eastern Zheijang province.

That vessel is scheduled to be delivered from the yard in the third quarter of 2021 and will join the Avenir fleet as the world’s largest LNG bunkering vessel.

Avenir’s first newbuild delivery, the “Avenir Advantage”, took place in October 2020 and has now been followed by the “Avenir Accolade” with other newbuilds, including one named the “Avenir Allegiance”, lined up for delivery during 2021. 

Golar LNG Partners said holders of common units representing limited partner interests of the LNG fleet owner had voted to approve the planned takeover by New Fortress Energy, the New York-based LNG and power project developer in Latin America and the Caribbean.

New Fortress Energy Inc, the New York-based company with a growing LNG projects portfolio in Latin America and the Caribbean, has entered into two deals with a combined value of $5 billion, one to acquire Golar LNG Partners and a second to take over Hygo Energy Transition, a Brazil-focused joint venture owned by Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners and shipping company Golar LNG Ltd.

Golar LNG Partners has entered into an agreement and plans to merge with New Fortress Energy Inc, the New York-based company with a growing LNG projects portfolio in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Oct 2 (LNGJ) - Golar Power, the joint venture involving Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners and which in the future will be named Hygo Energy Transition, has apparently submitted the highest bid to lease the Salvador LNG import terminal in the northeast Brazilian state of Bahia, according to media reports in Brazil, citing officials involved in the process.

   In a securities exchange filing, Brazil’s state-controlled energy company Petrobras confirmed only that it had received an offer from Golar, though there were doubts about the final outcome because of a Hygo Energy executive being caught up in a completely unrelated bribery probe. Petrobras added that the tender process would now enter a phase in which interested parties could lodge appeals. A total of 12 companies applied to submit offers, including Spanish energy company Repsol and France’s Total.

The Brazilian lower house of the National Congress has approved a bill to further open up the natural gas and LNG terminal market to private competition and break the monopoly held by state-controlled energy company Petroleo Brasileiro, known as Petrobras.

Golar LNG Partners and Golar Power have entered into a cooperation agreement whereby the parties intend to work together to develop floating LNG terminal hubs.