LNG

Seatrium of Singapore has renewed a long-term favoured customer contract with the liquefied natural gas fleets of Greek shipping line GasLog and for the LNG carriers operated by UK-based major Shell.

Seatrium said the accords with Gaslog and Shell International Trading and Shipping Co. (STASCO) provide for ship repairs, refurbishment and upgrading of LNG vessels from 2024 to 2029 with an option for a further renewal.

“This contract marks a collaborative partnership between Seatrium and these two leading maritime companies with whom the Group has established a long history of collaboration,” said a statement from Seatrium.

The Singaporean Seatrium Group was formerly called Sembcorp Marine Ltd and renamed as Seatrium following its merger with Keppel Offshore & Marine.

“The GasLog and Shell contracts involve the repairs, refurbishment and upgrading of a combined fleet of 43 LNG carriers docking at Seatrium Repairs and Upgrades, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seatrium,” noted the shipyards company.

Joint planning

“It also supports joint planning, information and experience sharing and leveraging complementary resources of the Group to achieve sustainable targets in health and safety and environmental quality, cost efficiency and timely deliveries,” the group added.

Kostas Karathanos, Chief Operating Officer of GasLog LNG Services, said that he was pleased with the contract renewal.

“We are delighted to renew our favoured customer agreement for another five years,” explained Karathanos.

“We have enjoyed many years of partnership to refit the majority of our fleet here and trusted Seatrium in the conversion of our floating storage regasification unit (FSRU),” Karathanos added in reference to the FSRU deployed off Alexandroupolis in northeast Greece.

Tender

“The recent tender we jointly ran with STASCO indicates that Seatrium remains a competitive shipyard offering high quality services,” the GasLog COO stated.

“This aligns with our strategic direction of optimising costs and leveraging our competitiveness,” said Karathanos. 

Alvin Gan, Executive Vice President for Repairs and Upgrades at Seatrium, said the accord with STASCO and GasLog enhanced the status of the shipyard group.

“The selection of Seatrium as the LNG refit partner in Singapore is a major boost to Singapore’s status as a major global hub,” the Seatrium executive said.

Seatrium is the world’s leader for LNG upgrades and the conversion of LNG carriers, holding an extensive track record of 11 FSRU conversions since 2007.

FSRU conversions are highly complex processes that involve extensive modifications to the vessel’s structure, systems and equipment.

Teekay LNG Partners has become the latest fleet owner to be targeted by a US investment fund with Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners setting up a deal worth $6.2 billion to acquire the Bermuda-based shipping line, which has a large portfolio of vessels under charter contracts and part ownership of a Middle East LNG import terminal.