LNG

Seatrium of Singapore, a leading global company in repairing, upgrading or refitting LNG carriers, has signed a favoured customer contract with a South Korean shipping company.

Saverex, a holding company owned by Nicolas Saverys, the Chairman of Belgian shipping company and LNG player Exmar, said it intended
to launch a voluntary and conditional public takeover bid for Exmar and to take the company private.

BW LNG, the ship-owning subsidiary of Singapore-based BW Group, has taken delivery of the newbuild “BW Helios” with 174,000 cubic metres capacity from Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in South Korea.

The carrier, which will sail under a term charter with UK major BP, is the second LNG carrier to join BW LNG's fleet so far this year, after the 174,000 cubic metres capacity “BW Lesmes” was delivered by DSME in March.

BW LNG has a further two carriers remaining on its orderbook, the 174,000 cubic metres capacity “BW Iris” and same-sized “BW Cassia”, which are due for delivery in August-September 2022.

The BW Group has main offices in Bermuda, Singapore and Norway with a fleet of around 400 vessels, including 26 LNG carriers, 159 liquefied petroleum gas vessels and 160 products tankers.

A total of three new LNG carriers have joined the BW global LNG fleet so far in May, with Greek owners TMS Cardiff Gas and Alpha Gas each receiving a carrier earlier this month.

A further three carriers are scheduled to join the global fleet by the end of the month, with Danish owner Celsius, Norwegian firm Flex LNG and Japanese owner NYK Lines all due to pick up a single carrier.

LNG carrier deliveries are expected to slow from the third quarter, with 12 scheduled for both the third and fourth quarters of this year, before slowing further in 2022-2023.

In other activities in mid-May 20121, BW Group said a $128.3 million financial package was arranged to help fund a converted floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) as part of a gas-for-power project in the Latin American nation of El Salvador.

The financial package has a 15-year contractual term. The funds provide resources for the purchase and conversion of the “BW Tatiana” LNG carrier to an FSRU.
This is the region's first FSRU, which will be permanently moored at the Port of Acajutla in El Salvador.

BW LNG is developing the project with Invenergy, a multinational power generation and operations company.

Invenergy and BW LNG will jointly commission, operate and maintain the FSRU.

Belgian shipping company Exmar, owner of the “Tango FLNG” barge from Argentina now up for re-charter, reported increased third-quarter consolidated earnings.

Exmar, based in the port of Antwerp, said its operating result came to $22 million in the three months to September compared with $21M in the same quarter of 2019.

The company’s gross quarterly earnings jumped to $58.8M from $27.4M in the prior-year quarter.

Exmar is led by Chief Executive Nicolas Saverys and also continues to manage 10 LNG floating storage and regasification units, though is not directly involved in regasification projects with former partner Excelerate Energy of the US.

The company said that its Midsize Gas Carriers business continued on its upward trend while pressurized-ships spot market was suffering due to low refinery activity.

Exmar announced in October that it had reached a settlement deal with Argentine oil and gas company YPF SA over the dispute under the “Tango FLNG” charter agreement that blew up in June 2020. The LNG production barge was now available for re-hire.

Under the accord, YPF has agreed to pay Exmar $150M in consideration of the early termination of their charter agreement and the withdrawal of arbitration proceedings.

The Belgian company's FLNG barge has production capacity of around 500,000 tonnes per annum. It was first deployed at the Bahia Blanca port in Argentina.

In addition to owning an LNG FSRU and its FLNG interests, Exmar owns and manages a fleet of almost 40 other vessels including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers.

The FLNG vessel, bullt at the Chinese Wison shipyard in Nantong, China, formally started its operations in Argentina in mid-2019 and a 10-year charter term began in September 2019.

Exmar said the “Tango FLNG” had delivered five shipments, or 624,000 cubic metres of LNG to date with an availability of 99 percent.

In its latest earnings, Exmar added that its infrastructure division posted an operating result of $4.1 compared with $700,000 in the same three months of last year.

The earnings had been “negatively affected” by the recognition of a provision of $16.4M on uncollected revenues from YPF for the “ Tango FLNG” barge.

However, the settlement deal will be reflected in fourth-quarter earnings for October to be published in 2021.

The loan agreement with Bank of China and Deutsche Bank with respect to the “Tango FLNG” financing foresees a replenishment of the Debt Service Reserve Account for an amount up to $40M, of which $22M has already been paid.

“The modalities for the payment of the balance are still under discussions,” added Exmar.

The company said that the FLNG barge was now being prepared for demobilization. “Commercial leads for new employment are actively being pursued,” stated Exmar.

A second Exmar vessel, a floating storage and regasfication unit, continues serving under a charter party with global commodities firm Gunvor, even though it is not yet deployed.

“Arbitration with respect to a dispute under the contract is ongoing without financial impact,” Exmar explained.

Exmar, the Belgian shipping company with more than 40 vessels in its fleet now mostly focused on the liquefied petroleum gas business, has made executive changes as it tries to improve finances amid the success of the floating LNG production vessel, “Tango FLNG”.