LNG

Qatar Gas Transport Company, known as Nakilat and a global leader in liquefied natural gas shipping, is expanding its fleet to 80 ships through 2027 with orders just placed with a  South Korean shipyard for six new gas carriers.

South Korean shipbuilders, the global leaders in the construction of liquefied natural gas carriers, ranked second in 2023 in terms of new global orders for all types of vessels for a third straight year, though increased their share of the LNG newbuilds market.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French LNG storage technology company, reported a slight drop in full-year revenues though the results were strong as orders also reached a record level with demand increasing for new vessels.

South Korean shipyards outperformed their Chinese counterparts in terms of orders for liquefied natural gas carriers during 2022, though finished second to China in overall shipyard orders.

Feb 21 (LNGJ) - Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering (KSOE), the world’s largest shipbuilder by order backlog, said it won another LNG carrier order worth $217 million. KSOE has won 37 ship orders so far in 2022 valued at a combined $4.37 billion, accomplishing 25 percent of its annual goal of $17.4Bln of orders. KSOE’s three affiliates are Hyundai Heavy Industries, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries.

June 16 (LNGJ) - Capital Gas Ship Management Corp. has taken delivery of a new LNG carrier, the “Aristarchos”, built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea. “With cargo capacity of 174,000 cubic metres, the vessel is highly efficient, propelled with XDF engines and equipped with the latest available technologies, including an air lubrication system and increased filling limits of more than 99 percent,” said Capital Gas.

   “It is the third of seven sister ships to be delivered between 2020-2023. The vessel has been chartered to Cheniere for a period up to six years,” said the Piraeus, Greece-based company. Capital Gas is a ship management service provide and currently manages a fleet of seven modern LNG carriers, four under construction and three trading.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology firm and designer of liquefied natural gas storage tanks, has acquired another French firm specializing in the assembly of electrolysers for the production of green hydrogen, a future fuel to rival LNG.

Sovcomflot, the Russian shipping line with 31 gas carriers in operation or on order in an overall fleet of almost 150 vessels, has taken delivery of its latest LNG carrier “SCF Barents”, chartered to Royal Dutch Shell and named after the 16th-century Dutch Arctic explorer Willem Barents.

The ship with capacity of 174,000 cubic metres was handed over at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea.

After the vessel’s naming ceremony, it embarked on its maiden voyage under a long-term time charter agreement with one of Shell’s subsidiaries.

Sovcomflot President and Chief Executive Igor Tonkovidov, attended the ceremony along with Cederic Cremers, Chairman of the Shell subsidiary in Russia.

Also representatives at the event were the executives of the three European banks which provided the shipping finance, ING Bank of the Netherlands, France’s Crédit Agricole and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH of Germany.

Shell executive Catherine Hall, the General Manager of Global Operations and Commercial Services at Shell Trading & Supply was the vessel’s sponsor at the ceremony.

“SCF Group and Shell have enjoyed a long-standing partnership, which both parties seek to consistently expand and reinforce,” said CEO Tonkovidov of Sovcomflot, also known as SCF Group.

“For many years, Shell has been amongst the largest charterers of SCF’s vessels,” he added.

“The delivery of ‘SCF Barents’ is important as growing our fleet of gas carriers is a strategic priority for SCF,” stated Tonkovidov.

“With the delivery, we now have 15 gas carriers in operation, with another 16 under construction. Thus, two-thirds of all vessels currently ordered by SCF are destined to expand our gas fleet,” he explained.

The “SCF Barents” is the second vessel in a series of three with 174,000 cubic metres capacity in the new-generation Atlanticmax series ordered by SCF in 2018.

The first vessel of the series, “SCF La Perouse”, was delivered in February 2020.

“All vessels in the series are designed to maximise their energy efficiency and meet the most stringent environmental standards, with their fuel consumption substantially reduced compared to the preceding generation of vessels,” said SCF.

“Each LNG carrier is equipped with an advanced Mark III Flex cargo containment system, slow-speed dual-fuel X-DF engine, and a system that reduces nitrogen-oxide emissions while the vessel sails in liquid fuel mode,” the shipping line added.

“In addition, all vessels of the series are among the first globally to feature a boil-off gas partial re-liquefaction system, which significantly reduces cargo losses while on long voyages or awaiting cargo operations,” said SCF.

SCF is developing into one of the world’s premier energy shipping companies, specialising in crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied gas, as well as the servicing of offshore oil and gas production.

The Group’s fleet has total deadweight of over 12.7 million tonnes, including vessels owned through joint ventures. More than 80 vessels are of ice class for Arctic waters.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology firm and designer of liquefied natural gas storage tanks, has received an order from two South Korean shipyards for tank designs for six LNG carriers for Asian and European owners.

Qatar Petroleum has signed the largest LNG shipbuilding agreements in history to secure more than 100 ships valued at around $20 billion to transport planned additional production volumes from the Arab Gulf North Field expansion.