LNG

GasLog, the Greek LNG shipping company, is expanding its fleet by ordering four newbuild 174,000 cubic metres-capacity for delivery in 2024 and 2025.

GasLog Ltd is ordering the vessels from South Korea shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.

The four newbuilds will have latest generation M-type Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection (MEGI) propulsion system.

GasLog completed a merger in June 2021 with BlackRock’s Global Energy and Power Infrastructure division and de-listed its common shares from the New York Stock Exchange.

The GasLog’s ownership structure has three main shareholders in both companies, parent GasLog Ltd and subsidiary GasLog Partners LP.

They are the Greek Livanos family with 55 percent, the Monaco-based Onassis Foundation with 12 percent and BlackRock’s Global Energy and Power infrastructure fund (GEPIF), holder of 45 percent of the equity.

GasLog Ltd, whose Chairman remains Peter G. Livanos, has an LNG fleet comprising 20 vessels, 12 dual-fuel, seven tri-fuel, diesel electric (TFDE) and one steam-turbine carrier.

GasLog Ltd subsidiary, GasLog Partners LP and whose Chief Executive since August 2021 has been Paolo Enoizi, owns 15 LNG carriers, including 10 tri-fuel-diesel-electric (TFDE) ships and five steam-turbine vessels.

GasLog Partners in November 2021 reported a third-quarter increase in revenues and profits as global demand gathered pace.

The partnership said income jumped 11 percent to $80.53M from $72.8M in the same quarter to the end of September in 2020.

At the end of October GasLog Partners said it completed the sale and lease-back of the “GasLog Shanghai”, with 155,000 cubic metres capacity, to China Development Bank Leasing.

GasLog noted that headline spot rates in the third quarter benefited from LNG demand growth from Asia as well as longer than average wait times at the Panama Canal.

Qatari liquefied natural gas fleet owner and operator, Nakilat, has taken delivery of a newbuild carrier called “Global Sea Spirit”, its 22nd conventional-sized vessel and taking Qatar’s overall LNG fleet size to 74 ships.

The 174,000 cubic metres capacity “Global Sea Spirit” will be commercially and technically managed by Nakilat affiliate Nakilat Shipping Qatar Ltd (NSQL).

The latest LNG carrier was built by South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) and is the third of four LNG newbuild carriers to be delivered to Global Shipping Co. Ltd., a joint venture owned 60 percent by Nakilat and 40 percent by Greek company Maran Ventures Inc.

The first two LNG carriers newbuilds of the series have high-pressure M-Type Electronically Controlled-Gas Injection (ME-GI) engines.

They were delivered in May 2020 and January 2021 respectively and are currently in service.

The “Global Sea Spirit” is the first Nakilat vessel with X-DF propulsion, a slow-speed diesel engine with a direct drive to the propellers, enabling a substantial reduction in the vessel’s fuel consumption.

The fourth in the current DSME series will also have X-DF engines and delivery is scheduled for early 2022.

Advantages

“Like the ME-GI system, vessels running with X-DF engines propulsion are proven to be more fuel efficient, reduce greenhouse emissions and are more environmentally friendly due to their lower carbon emissions,” said Nakilat.

The “Global Sea Spirit” is chartered to Cheniere Marketing, a unit of Houston, Texas-based Cheniere Energy, owner of the Sabine Pass plant in Louisiana and the Corpus Christi facility in Texas.

The newbuild is the optimum size preferred for sending US Gulf Coast cargoes via the Panama Canal to North Asia.

The delivery of all four newbuild LNG carriers by 2022 will bring Nakilat’s fleet to 74 vessels, which is just under 12 percent of the current global LNG fleet based on carrying capacity.

Of these, there are 24 LNG carriers, four liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier and one floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) vessel being managed in-house by NSQL. 

Leading ship management company V Group has appointed former Shell executive David Taylor as Managing Director of the liquefied natural gas division as it prepares for the expansion of the global LNG fleet.

Burckhardt Compression, the Swiss manufacturer of compressor systems and a service provider for LNG and other markets, has continued its global expansion by agreeing to acquire the 40 percent of Chinese company Shenyang Yuanda Compressor it didn’t already own.

German marine engine maker MAN Diesel and Turbo, a supplier of propulsion for many of the world’s first LNG-powered vessels as well as conventional LNG carriers, has been rebranded under the new name MAN Energy Solutions.

Royal Dutch Shell’s shipping unit said one of its five new LNG carriers expected to enter service by mid-2018 has been named after the company’s first ever oil tanker.

Nov 9 (LNGJ) - Teekay LNG Partners, the US-listed affiliate of the fleet operator awaiting the delivery of eight new carriers scheduled for 2018, reported a wider third-quarter loss of $18.89 million compared with a profit of $50.10M in the same quarter of 2016. “During the third quarter, we continued to generate stable cash flows,” said Mark Kremin, President and Chief Executive of Teekay Gas Group. “In October and November 2017, we took delivery of two wholly-owned M-type, Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection (MEGI)-powered LNG carrier newbuilds and one 30 percent-owned newbuild, all of which immediately commenced charter contracts ranging between six and 20 years in duration with Shell,” said Kremin. “We expect these newbuilding deliveries will have a positive contribution to our cash flows and earnings beginning in the fourth quarter,” said the CEO.

South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries-Engine and Machinery Division and shipowner Ilshin have signed a shipbuilding contract for a 50,000 dead-weight tonnage bulk carrier with liquefied natural gas propulsion provided by Germany’s MAN Group.

German marine propulsion systems maker MAN Diesel and Turbo has secured another order from South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) under its latest contract with Greek shipping operator Maran Gas for the construction of two LNG carriers with dual-fuel options, including gas power.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian-listed company whose main assets are the two LNG carriers with a capacity of 174,000 cubic metres it is having built at Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea, has named Jonathan Cook as its new Chief Executive to draw up a future shipping strategy.