LNG

Jan 8 (LNGJ) - Klaipėdos Nafta, the operator of the LNG import terminal in the Baltic state of Lithuania, will now become the commercial manager of four German LNG terminals. “KN Energies AB has kicked off the year 2024 by securing the public tenders for the commercial management of four German terminals,” said KN Energies.

   The Lithuanians said that on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, they would operate the existing floating facility at the German North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven as a well as a planned second facility. They would also operate the Brunsbüttel terminal on the Elbe and would additionally be responsible for the planned LNG terminal in the Port of Stade on the Lower Elbe.

March 10 (LNGJ) – The Lithuanian fuels company Klaipedos Nafta, which also operates the Baltic state’s floating LNG import terminal, has been engaged by Italian grid operator SNAM to provide support services for the future commissioning of the proposed Piombino LNG FSRU project on the Italian West Coast.

   “Klaipedos Nafta has established a reputation as a reliable LNG terminal operator and project developer and will support SNAM in the FSRU installation and subsequent commissioning and testing of the floating terminal,” said the Lithuanian company.

Höegh LNG Holdings, the owner of 10 floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and two conventional carriers, posted a quarterly loss because of operational issues and ships being out of contract ahead of being re-deployed.

Höegh reported a net third-quarter loss of $45.9 million, which was wider than the $3.14M loss posted in the same three months of 2021.

The Bermuda-based company, now owned by Norwegian interests and US equity funds managed by US bank Morgan Stanley, reported higher third-quarter revenues of  $96.09M versus $86.15M in the same quarter of 2021.

“The fleet delivered a stable operating performance in the third quarter,” said Höegh.

“However, the ‘Höegh Giant’ has been idle since late April following the termination of its FSRU contract and the ‘Höegh Gannet’ was idle for a period towards the end of the third quarter while repositioning to a yard for class renewal and modifications to be carried out in the fourth quarter to prepare the vessel for FSRU operations,” explained the company.

“Furthermore, ‘Neptune’ was out of service for a period in the third quarter for regular class renewal and maintenance,” it added.

Höegh said the following the surge in demand for FSRUs earlier this year, the company has secured long-term FSRU employment for its entire fleet.

Lithuania FSRU

Additionally, the Lithuanian charterer of the vessel “Independence” has declared the purchase option to acquire the FSRU in December 2024.

The FSRU has been in operation at the Baltic port of Klaipeda since October 2014 for a charter cost of around $68 million per annum.

The charterer of the “Independence” is the energy storage company Klaipėdos Nafta.

Höegh said that its main business focus now was to prepare its FSRU fleet for the start-up of the new contracts and to ensure the projects are delivered on time, except for the potential later start of the contract in Australia.

The company added that it had settled the differences of the cancellation of an FSRU deployment on the West Coast of India.

“Following Höegh’s termination of the ‘Höegh Giant’ FSRU contract in India in April, Höegh reached an agreement with the previous charterer (H-Energy) in July dropping all claims and counterclaims against a settlement amount to be paid by Höegh and the ‘Höegh Giant’ thereafter left India,” it explained.

“The vessel was modified and prepared for FSRU operations at a yard during October-November, and will be allocated to one of the group’s new FSRU contracts,” stated Höegh.

The company said that it was also still involved in pending arbitration with the charterer of “PGN FSRU Lampung”, the FSRU deployed in Indonesia.

Outlook

Höegh said in its outlook for the coming year that the company’s main operational focus was to prepare the FSRUs for start-up of their new contracts.

“Looking further ahead, the company will start considering potential growth opportunities including expansions of its FSRU fleet with newbuilds, or the conversion of LNG carriers to FSRUs to meet the increased demand for FSRUs,” it stated.

The group expects that the results for the fourth quarter of 2022 will be impacted by three FSRUs being out of service for modifications.

“The three FSRUs will be without revenue for a period, and costs involved with the modifications may be partly expensed as operating expenses and partly capitalized as investments depending on the nature of the costs incurred,” added Höegh.

The LNG shipping company, one of the sector’s pioneers, completed its own overhaul in 2022 with a merger and is owned by Larus Holding Limited, a 50-50 joint venture between Norway’s Leif Höegh & Co. Ltd. and US equity funds managed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners.

Höegh LNG Holdings, the owner of 10 floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) and two conventional carriers, has agreed to grant a purchase option to Lithuania to buy the FSRU “Independence”.

The FSRU has been in operation at the port of Klaipeda since October 2014.

It was expected to be purchased by the Lithuanians from Höegh LNG and has been chartered since being deployed for around $68 million per annum.

The shipping company said that the charterer of the “Independence”, the Lithuanian, energy storage company Klaipėdos Nafta, had notified Höegh that it would like to exercise and option to acquire the FSRU.

“The transfer of ownership is expected to occur in December 2024,” said Höegh.

“Until then, the existing FSRU contract between a subsidiary of Höegh LNG and Klaipėdos Nafta continues unchanged,” it added.

The Klaipėda LNG terminal is still the main source of gas supply to Lithuania which is building up its already well developed gas transmission infrastructure.

Latvia storage

Klaipėda Nafta is expanding its gas supplies and has gas transmission projects with European Union neighbours, helping Latvia to boost its gas storage volumes.

Höegh LNG Holdings in September 2022 finalised the acquisition Höegh LNG Partners, the affiliate company with five ships and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company's two conventional carriers, each with 147,200 cubic metres of capacity, are the “Arctic Lady” chartered to TotalEnergies and the “Arctic Princess”, chartered to Norway’s Equinor.

Both vessels are mostly on shuttle duty delivering cargoes from the Equinor-operated Hammerfest LNG export plant.

Höegh LNG Holdings revealed the initial merger plan in December 2021 and went on to acquire all outstanding common units not already owned by Höegh LNG Holdings in exchange for $9.25 in cash per common unit.

The Baltic state of Lithuania has allocated the long-term capacity on a regional basis for the floating liquefied natural gas import facility at the port of Klaipėda.

May 25 (LNGJ) - Klaipėdos Nafta, the Baltic oil storage company and operator of the Lithuanian LNG import terminal, the floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), the “Independence”, has completed the annual LNG terminal capacity allocation for the final quarter of 2022. “Five customers will use the booked 9.66 terawatt hours TWh of LNG capacity,” said Klaipėdos Nafta. The fourth-quarter deliveries will amount to about 10 cargoes.

   “The capacity was allocated proportionally, giving priority to companies that have used the services of the terminal in the last three years,” explained Jurgita Silinskaite-Vensloviene, Head of KN LNG Commerce. “Five companies from Lithuania, Estonia and Poland have been awarded capacity for LNG carriers carrying at least 138,000 cubic metres of cargo,” she added.

Lithuanian fuel company Klaipedos Nafta has invited market participants to book regasification and cargo capacities for the first three months of the coming winter season from October to the end of December 2022.

The Baltic nation’s operator of oil and gas and fuel storage at the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda said the floating LNG terminal would offer a total of 9.66 terawatt hours during the allocation procedure.

The Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia have only one import terminal between them at the Lithuanian port in the form of the 170,000 cubic metres capacity floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) “Independence”, delivered in 2014 by Norway’s Höegh LNG Holdings.

Höegh LNG has since expressed its intention to sell the FSRU “Independence” to a suitable buyer as Höegh itself was subjected to a corporate overhaul after an internal takeover.

“In order to ensure that the services of the terminal can be used by as many customers as possible, the capacity of the LNG terminal will be allocated,” said Klaipedos Nafta.

The company said that new regulations provide that a single terminal user may not book more than half of the terminal's allocated capacity.

Preferences

“In the event that the supply of terminal capacity exceeds the demand, the capacity shall be allocated on a ‘pro rata’ basis, with preference given to the companies, which have used the services of the LNG terminal in the last three years and are therefore familiar with the operating principles,” explained Klaipedos Nafta.

Later in 2022, Klaipedos Nafta also stated that it planned to offer the market the possibility to book long-term capacity at the LNG terminal from January 2023 for a period of five or 10 years.

The relevant amendments to the regulations for the use of the terminal have been submitted for market consultation.

“One of the technical changes we will follow next year will align the so-called gas year with the calendar year,” explained Jurgita Šilinskaitė-Venslovienė, Head of LNG at Klaipedos Nafta.

“That is why we are currently initiating capacity allocation for a relatively short period of three months,” she added.

“Already in June, we will invite customers to assess the long-term capacity needs of the LNG terminal, for which we are currently making the final preparations,” she concluded.

The Klaipedos Nafta said applications for terminal capacity scan be submitted to the company until the 17th of May at 4:30 PM Lithuanian time.

Joint annual and monthly schedules of LNG cargoes delivered to the terminal will continue to be published and updated on the Klaipedos Nafta website.

“For the gas year, lasting from 1 October 2021 to 30 September 2022, customers have booked a total of 23.9 TWh of Klaipeda terminal capacity,” it added. 

Höegh LNG Holdings, the leading floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) operator with 10 modern vessels, said LNG continues to be a growth market and recent events in Ukraine had put energy on top of the agenda in Europe with increased interest in FSRUs.

The Lithuanian LNG import terminal at the Baltic port of Klaipeda handled 49 LNG cargoes in the gas year from October 2020 until the start of June 2021 and hopes to better this performance through the rest of the year.

Lithuanian LNG and oil terminal company Klaipedos Nafta said it had joined with Asian partners from South Korea and Japan in bidding in the tender process for an LNG import terminal on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus and gave more details of consortium plans.

Klaipedos Nafta has operated the Lithuanian LNG import terminal since 2014 at the Baltic Port of Klaipeda as well as an LNG re-loading station.

The Lithuania facility is a floating storage and regasification unit under charter from Hoegh LNG.

Klaipedos Nafta said it was bidding for the Cyprus project with consortium partners consisting of South Korean companies Samsung C&T and Posco E&C as well as the Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and the utility Osaka Gas.

The second consortium includes Monaco-based LNG shipping company Gaslog, a unit of Spanish utility Enagas and the Italian gas network and infrastructure company, Societa Nazionale Metanodotti (Snam).

The third group of bidders is led by China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering.

The original deadline had been set for the end of March and has now been moved to September 6.

The Cypriot Natural Gas Public Company (DEFA) has also invited expressions of interest for the supply of LNG for the FSRU.

The tender for the supply of the LNG is the second part of the gas-to-power project.

Klaipedos Nafta said it was participating in the tender as a contractor and partner of the consortium.

According to the published specifications, the LNG terminal will include an FSRU, a jetty for mooring the vessel and a jetty-borne gas pipeline to secure supply of natural gas to the Vasilikos power plant, the largest in Cyprus.

The project has been granted European Union support amounting to a grant of 100 million euros ($111.4M).

If winning the tender, Klaipedos Nafta said it would join with MOL and Osaka Gas to provide terminal operator services for a period of up to 20 years.