LNG

The Australian Fair Work Commission (FWC), a government-sponsored mediation service in disputes between labor unions and management, has begun talks to avoid the shutdown of the Gorgon and Wheatstone liquefied natural gas export plants in Western Australia with a combined 25 million tonnes per annum of output.

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co. has signed a contract to construct the first liquefied natural gas bunkering vessel to serve a growing base of LNG maritime fuel customers in Western Japan.

Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, signed the newbuild contract with Keys Bunkering West Japan Co. comprising a group of leading shipping and utility companies.

The new Japanese bunkering vessel with 3,500 cubic metres of LNG capacity will be built at MHI’s Shimonoseki Shipyard in Yamaguchi Prefecture with completion and handover scheduled for March 2024.

“The use of LNG propulsion for ships is attracting attention as a solution for compliance with regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mitsubishi Shipbuilding.

“The planned LNG bunkering vessel will have an electric main engine, and be equipped with a dual-fuel engine capable of using both LNG and heavy oil as fuel,” added the company.

Investors

Keys Bunkering West Japan is a joint venture company established in February 2022 to supply LNG fuel for ships in the Kyushu and Setouchi regions of the country.

The parties in the venture include Kyushu Electric Power Co, Shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line), a unit of trading house Itochu and Saibu Gas Co., a gas utility based in Fukuoka in Northern Kyushu.

“Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, as part of MHI Group’s strategic initiatives for the energy transition, will make use of the gas-handling technologies and experience it has accumulated from building LNG carriers,” added the statement from the Yokohama-based company.

“Through this business project involving low environmental-impact LNG fuel, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, as a maritime system integrator, aims to further the decarbonization of the marine industry,” it stated.

The Mitsubishi newbuild when operating in gas mode will provide “exceptional environmental performance” with considerably reduced emissions such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide an sulfur oxide.

The company said the bunkering ship of 4,850 gross tonnage will be 82.4 metres in length with a beam of 18.2 metres and a 4.8 metres draft.

Jan 13 (LNGJ) - Japanese utility and liquefied natural gas buyer Kyushu Electric Power issued a statement saying it was urgently seeking cargoes for its gas-fired plants. “As an emergency measure, we have begun buying 2,000-4,000 tonnes of LNG left in carriers in Asia after having discharged their cargoes to secure our fuel,” said the utility in reference to the heel left in tankers to maintain cool-down.

   Kyushu Electric, based in the city of Fukuoka in the southernmost Japanese island, said it was also asking other Japanese power companies to swap deliveries if possible. Benchmark power prices in Japan have reached a record high of 232.20 Japanese yen ($2.23) per kilowatt hour. Other Japanese utilities have asked customers to try and save power usage because of gas shortages.   

Dec 27 (LNGJ) - Japanese utility Kyushu Electric Power Co. said it signed long-term transport agreements for the world’s first LNG-powered large coal carriers with the shipping companies, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) and Mitsui OSK Lines.

   The two newbuild vessels will be delivered from Japanese shipyards in 2023 to import coal for Kyushu Electric’s coal-fired power plants. The LNG will be supplied to fuel the coal carriers at the loading facility of Kitakyushu LNG Co., a Kyushu Electric subsidiary. “NYK, MOL and Kyushu Electric aim to positively collaborate for sustainable marine transportation of coal, with the reduction of its environmental impact,” they said.