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.

London-based global shipbrokers Simpson Spence Young have given an upbeat outlook for LNG carrier charters and vessel sales and purchases in the coming year after a record-breaking 2022.

South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries said it was awarded a contract worth 3.9 trillion South Korean won ($3 billion) to build 14 liquefied natural gas carriers, apparently with 12 of the ships being for Qatar’s expansion project.

SHI declined to say in a regulatory filing whether the bulk of the new orders were related to a potential mega-deal from QatarEnergy after South Korean shipbuilders were asked by the Qataris in 2020 to reserve a major portion of their LNG ship construction capacity.

The shipbuilder received a separate order for two vessels and worth around $430M from an unnamed client in Africa to deliver the two ships by the end of December 2024.

The latest orders brought SHI's total for 2022 to $6.3Bln for 33 ships, including 24 LNG carriers.

With these orders, SHI said it had achieved 72 percent of its annual order target estimated at $8.8Bln for 2022.

SHI’s 12 newbuild carriers, destined to deliver Qatari volumes and which would be Bahamian-flagged, would each have capacity of 174,000 cubic metres.

SHI said this latest order marked the single largest shipbuilding contract and LNG carriers order that a Korean shipyard had been awarded.

In March 2021 the shipyard had obtained a then record order worth $2.48Bln to build 20 containerships with capacities of 15,000 twenty-foot units.

DSME order

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering disclosed on June 8, 2022, that it had received a $850M order for four newbuilds from Qatar.

The LNG carrier orders are increasing to keep pace with LNG and demand liquefaction plant expansion by nations such as Qatar and the US.

DSME, the world's No. 4 shipbuilder by order backlog, said it would build the Qatar project vessels with 174,000 cubic metres of capacity at the Okpo shipyard on the south coast and deliver them by the first half of 2025.

The DSME order was the first result of a $19 billion contract that DSME, SHI and Hyundai Heavy Industries, signed with Qatar to construct scores of LNG vessels through 2027.

The contract is in line with Qatar's plan to boost its LNG production capacity to 126 million tonnes per annum by 2027 in two expansions from the current 77 MTPA.

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.

French liquefied natural gas storage technology firm Gaztranzport and Technigaz (GTT) and its South Korean shipyard partner Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering received an order for the tank design of four new LNG carriers on behalf of the Japanese ship-owner Mitsui OSK Lines.

Inpex Corp., the Japanese oil and gas developer and operator of the Australian Ichthys LNG export plant near Darwin, has counter-sued South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries over a payment dispute related to the delivery of the Central Processing Facility (CPF) for the Ichthys gas field offshore northwest Australia.

SHI confirmed that the law suit had been filed by Inpex after the South Korean company had sought arbitration in April 2021 over the unpaid full CPF contract settlement.

The commissioning at the CPF was completed at the end of May 2018 and that was the last major task to be carried out by the developers in the offshore section.

However, Inpex claimed at the time that late deliveries of the CPF and other offshore equipment were among several factors that caused the delayed commercial start of the Ichthys venture for Inpex and French major Total, now called TotalEnergies.

The Ichthys feed-gas is sent to Bladin Point in the Northern Territory through a 890 kilometres-long gas pipeline.

SHI said in its claim that after the installation of the CPF it asked the Japanese company to settle the balance of the contract amounting to $116M.

But Inpex refused, saying the delayed CPF arrival and installation had caused project hold-ups.

SHI finally lodged a complaint against Inpex on April 30, 2021, with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, seeking payment for the rest of the contract amount.

This latest Inpex lawsuit is separate from another involving the joint venture Ichthys LNG engineering consortium JKC, consisting of KBR, Chiyoda and JGC Corp.

The Ichthys project's final cost was estimated at more than US$40 billion.

This far exceeded a 2012 cost estimate of US$34Bln for the venture, which was beset by delays of almost two years.

The first shipment of LNG from liquefaction plant was finally delivered on the 30th October 2018 to the Inpex-operated Naoetsu LNG Terminal in Niigata Prefecture.

A total of 8.4 MTPA of LNG out of the almost 9 MTPA from the two-Train plant was pre-sold to Japanese utility companies Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, Jera Co. Inc. and Toho Gas. CPC Corp. of Taiwan also receives shipments.

Oct 6 (LNGJ) - STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co., the South Korean yard specialising in mid-sized ships and which is still suffering financial problems because of a lack of orders, said it completed the design of a 7,500 cubic metres capacity liquefied natural gas bunkering ship.

   “The design project was in cooperation with the government-funded Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering,” said STX. The Korean company in 2017 delivered Royal Dutch Shell’s first LNG bunkering vessel, the 6,500 cubic metres capacity “Cardissa”.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology firm and designer of liquefied natural gas storage tanks, said it received two orders for the tank designs for four Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs), which will benefit from the “LNG cargo ready” notation.

Gaztransport and Technigaz (GTT), the French technology firm and designer of liquefied natural gas storage tanks, has been awarded a contract by the US Department of Defense to upgrade a military fuel storage facility featuring 20 steel-lined underground tanks with capacity up to 250 million gallons connected to fuelling piers at Pearl Harbor.

Under the agreement, GTT will work with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the US Navy to develop a solution to convert the existing tanks to double-wall containment at the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility.

“GTT engineers will use the company’s expertise in advanced tank containment system technologies, acquired over the past 60 years in the shipping and land storage of LNG under cryogenic conditions, to design a continuously monitored membrane barrier system that will extend the useful life of the tanks, originally built in the 1940s,” GTT explained.

“This award comes to GTT after a competitive source selection strategy launched last Spring by DIU,” said the French company.

GTT said the rigorous tender process was aimed at facilitating innovative technologies from the commercial sector that meet requirements, close capability gaps or provide potential technological advances to support the mission of the US Armed Forces.

“We are proud and honoured to have been retained by the US Department of Defense to assist them in extending the longevity of the Red Hill facility, recognized as both a Civil Engineering Landmark and a strategic asset to US Navy operations in the Pacific,” stated Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

“This contract is in line with our large capacity energy storage activities and clearly demonstrates our commitment to innovation beyond our traditional cryogenic business,” added Berterottière.

“Our goal is to contribute our technological and innovation capabilities to the sustainable preservation of Hawaii’s groundwater resources,” said the CEO.

In its traditional LNG market, GTT announced in early September 2020 that it had received an order from two South Korean shipyards for tank designs for six LNG carriers for Asian and European owners.

GTT said two of the newbuilds would be constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries on behalf of a European shipping line.

The other four vessels will be built by Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, two on behalf of an Asian ship-owner and two for a European ship-owner.

Each vessel of the six on order will have a capacity of 174,000 cubic metres.

GTT said the ships would be fitted with the Mark III Flex membrane containment system.

The delivery dates for all six carrier are scheduled between the second and final quarters of 2023.