LNG

April 10 (LNGJ) - Stolt-Nielsen Ltd, the Oslo-listed and London-based owner of a small tanker fleet including for LNG through its stake in Avenir LNG as well as terminals and other shipping interests, reported first-quarter net profits of $104.0 million, up from $99.8M in the same three months of 2023.

   Stolt-Nielsen’s earnings per share in the first quarter amounted to $1.94, up from $1.86. Stolt Tankers reported operating profits of $93M, an increase from $87.1M last year. Stolt-Nielsen Gas, including LNG assets, narrowed its operating losses to $2.0M from $3.4M in the 2023 quarter. “The firm market conditions enjoyed by Stolt Tankers during 2023 continued into the first quarter,” said Udo Lange, Chief Executive. “Spot rates continued to strengthen and we should start seeing the effect in the second quarter onwards. That said, we have seen some contract volumes decline as our customers adjust to the impact of supply chain disruptions,” he added.

Trafigura Group, a market leader in the global commodities industry including LNG, petroleum and other products, has followed up its recent arranged revolving credit facility of over $5 billion from European and global banks by securing a huge “Samurai loan” from a syndicate of Japanese banks.

Jan 26 (LNGJ) - The Dutch Port of Rotterdam registered less bunkering for shipping in 2023 except for LNG fuel with the overall total dropping to 9.9 million tonnes in 2023 compared with 10.6MT in 2022. “The demand for fuel oil, marine gas oil and other fuels was 6.7 percent lower than in 2022. Only bunkering of LNG rose significantly from 406,599 cubic metres to 619,243 cubic metres,” the Port said. “This had everything to do with developments in the price of LNG. The demand for bunkers mixed with biofuels dropped from 790,851 tonnes to 751,638 tonnes,” the Port added.

   “The overall decline is mainly caused by fewer sea-going vessels arriving in Rotterdam and because the price of bunker oil was temporarily more favourable in Singapore,” it added. The Port Authority also noted that along with the Port of Antwerp-Brugge Authority all bunker vessels by early 2026 have to work with “officially accepted bunker measurement” systems. “With this measure, the port authorities aim to make the ARA bunker market more transparent, efficient and reliable,” they added.

Peninsula, the leading global independent marine energy supplier founded to fill a gap in the Gibraltar market for bunkering services, has successfully completed the supply of liquefied natural gas as a marine fuel to a crude oil tanker owned by Singapore-based Eastern Pacific Shipping.

The delivery took place at the Gibraltar Port’s Western Anchorage.

Peninsula’s “Levante LNG”, the company’s first purpose-built 12,500 cubic metres capacity LNG bunkering vessel, supplied the EPS Suezmax crude oil tanker, the “Starway”, with around 3,500 cubic metres of LNG.

“EPS vessels like the ‘Starway’ and her sister, the ‘Greenway’, the world’s first LNG fuelled Suezmax tanker, are paving the way for a lower carbon future,” said Nacho de Miguel, Peninsula’s Head of Alternative Fuels and Sustainability.

“Through our investment in assets like the ‘Levante LNG’ we can close the supply chain loop to give these vessels access to lower-carbon fuels in the world’s leading ports,” De Miguel stated.

“I want to thank EPS for partnering with Peninsula to help power them towards a more sustainable future,” he added.

The EPS General Manager of Operations, Captain Suraj Sundaresan, said Gibraltar was one of those ports that was making efforts to cater for vessels seeking alternative fuels like LNG.

“Peninsula bridges shipowners like us who are at the forefront of the industry’s energy transition, and Ports who are evolving to host alternative-fuel powered vessels,” explained Sundaresan.

“Our vision to lower emissions is mirrored in Peninsula’s desire to provide lower carbon options today. The availability of low-carbon fuel supply is incredibly important, he added.

“As the demand for alternative fuels towards decarbonisation increases, we rely on suppliers like Peninsula to help keep our state-of-the-art alternative-fuelled ships moving,” Sundaresan declared.

Peninsula’s “Levante LNG” bunker ship arrived at her Mediterranean home at the end of September and is now fully operational in the Strait of Gibraltar and the ports of the Western Mediterranean.

The bunkering company is also building its cruise ship portfolio after successfully supplying Royal Caribbean’s cruise liner “Silver Nova” with LNG fuel in another operation in Gibraltar in November.

Accelleron, the Swiss company that is a global leader in turbocharging technologies and forms part of the Sauber Group, has had its service contract renewed by the Dutch shipping company Anthony Veder, owner of a growing small-scale LNG carrier fleet.

Eagle LNG Partners of the US has taken delivery of its first small-scale LNG carrier, the “Coral Favia”, from Dutch shipping company Anthony Veder for supply and bunkering services in the Caribbean Basin.

Oct 10 (LNGJ) - Peninsula, the leading independent global supplier of marine energy, has been granted an LNG Bunkering Operator Licence by the Government of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Port Authority. The company recently announced the arrival in the Strait of Gibraltar of its purpose-built “Levante LNG” supply vessel with 12,500 cubic metres capacity. The new vessel will be operated by Peninsula and will enable the company to service customers with LNG requirements in both the Gibraltar Strait and other Mediterranean ports.

   “This is very welcome news. I want to thank John Ghio, Captain of the Port of Gibraltar, and The Hon Vijay Daryanani MP, for supporting our licence application and allowing us to continue our decarbonisation,” said John A. Bassadone, Chief Executive of Peninsula. “The ability to operate our LNG vessel in the Strait of Gibraltar will bring lower-carbon solutions to vessels entering and leaving the Mediterranean. The proactivity of the Gibraltar Port Authority and the Government of Gibraltar will continue to cement the jurisdiction’s position as a leading centre for maritime excellence,” Bassadone declared.

European classification society DNV said there were a total of 29 LNG alternative-fuelled vessels added to its the database in August and September as the sector showed continued growth and lower LNG bunker prices in markets like Rotterdam helped to improve the shipping economics outlook.

French liquefied natural gas maritime storage tanks designer GTT and its smart-shipping brand have signed a Technical Services Agreement (TSA) with the France-based containerships operator CMA CGM Group covering 49 LNG-powered vessels.

Sept 27 (LNGJ) - AES Corp., the New York Stock Exchange-listed company, has agreed to sell minority stakes in its LNG businesses in the Dominican Republic and Panama. The agreements include the sale of 10 percent of the AES  business in the Dominican Republic to local Latin American firms Grupo Linda and the Grupo Popular subsidiary, AFI Popular. The AES Dominican Republic assets include an LNG regasification terminal with a 160,000  cubic metres of LNG capacity, the AES Andres 319 megawatts combined-cycle gas-fired power plant, the DPP 328 MW plant and an additional 150 MW of solar and wind power plants.

The US company is also selling stakes in its assets in the Panamanian port of Colón. “AES is selling 20 percent of AES Colón in Panama, also to Grupo Linda. AES Colón includes a 381 MW combined-cycle gas turbine with an adjacent regasification facility that has a 180,000 cubic metres LNG capacity storage tank,” said the company.