LNG

Bullishness abounds for LNG prices and winter 2026/27 contracts at Europe’s benchmark TTF gas trading hub after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a US toll on shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. For spot prices, the sell-off after the peace memorandum was short-lived.

A maiden LNG cargo has arrived at the 125,000 cubic meter KARMOL LNGT Powership Africa, moored off the Senegalese capital Dakar since June 2021. Arrival of the first cargo – onboard a TotalEnergies-chartered tanker – helps the African nation to convert several power stations from oil to natural gas.

KARMOL, a joint venture between Karpowership and Mitsui OSK Lines, is for long active in Senegal: the Turkish company is already operating a 235 MW powership since August 2019, which covers around 15% of the country’s electricity needs.

Technically speaking, KARMOL’s technique of regasifying LNG onboard a specially designed FSRU for direct use in a Karpowership helps accelerate the roll-out of LNG-to-Power projects in countries with no domestic gas resources.

Going forward, the Turkish-Japanese joint venture wants to convert its entire fleet of Powerships to LNG. To that end, the JV already has another FSRU under construction which will be released shortly and is destined to be deployed offshore Mozambique.

Gokhan Kocak, KARMOL board member, said the company has a “bold ambition” to offer LNG to Power across the world and especially within Africa. “The usage of FSRUs mean we can unlock the benefits of clean and affordable electricity for millions of people, even where countries have no domestic gas production or infrastructure,” he explained.

June 27 (LNGJ) - French LNG storage tanks designer GTT has received an order from the South Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries for tanks to be fitted on a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) on behalf of the Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines.

   GTT said it would design the tanks of this FSRU for a total capacity of 170,000 cubic metres. The tanks will be fitted with the Mark III membrane containment system developed by GTT. The delivery of this FSRU is scheduled for the third quarter of 2027.

Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., the Brazilian major known as Petrobras, has signed an accord with Turkey’s Karpowership to combine their expertise to expand projects in Brazil in the floating liquefied natural gas, regasification and liquefaction sectors.

Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), whose energy fleet includes over 150 tankers for oil and other products and around 90 LNG carriers, reported stable LNG profits while the containership business was badly hit by a “tidal wave” of new vessels in the sector.

Hanwha Ocean, the South Korean shipbuilding company formerly known as Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, is said to be considering a move into the offshore platforms and drilling sector while continuing to increase its LNG carrier newbuild backlog.

Korean regulatory information shows that Hanwha Ocean has registered two new trademarks, suggesting expansion into the maritime energy drilling sector as the nation’s companies seek more profitability.

The registrations concern “Hanwha Drilling” and “Hanwha shipping”, though the Group has yet to disclose its intentions.

Hanwha Ocean, formerly DSME, was acquired by the Korean conglomerate, the Hanwha Group, in 2022 and was rebranded as Hanwha Ocean in May 2023.

Two Japanese companies have just filed an order for an LNG carrier to be built at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje Shipyard in South Korea.

Tokyo Gas, the utility company and LNG importer, said its Tokyo LNG Tanker Company concluded a long-term charter contract with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) for this newbuild vessel ordered by MOL.  

MOL LNG fleet

MOL has a growing energy shipping business with a fleet including over 150 tankers for oil and other products and about 90 LNG carriers.

Tokyo Gas said that the charter agreement meant that the company had 11 LNG carriers fixed under a long-term charter.

The utility said that the MOL-owned newbuild would have 174,000 cubic metres capacity and be delivered in 2026.

The carrier will have a service speed of 1.5 knots and would be 295 metres in length and a beam of 46.4M.

“The Hanwha Ocean-built vessel will be equipped with the state-of-the-art MAN Energy Solutions engine (ME-GA) with improved fuel consumption efficiency and is expected to significantly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions compared to conventional LNG carriers,” said the utility.

“From 2026, the vessel will be utilised for TG Group’s LNG procurement and LNG trading,” it added.

“With this charter contract, the TG Group will continue to promote stable energy procurement while giving further consideration to the environment amid the changing surroundings of the global LNG market,” it added.

Shipping subsidiaries of energy majors Chevron Corp. and TotalEnergies along with the LNG and gas cargoes carrier company Seapeak, have joined a global technology-led initiative for cleaner shipping.

The Methane Abatement in Maritime Innovation Initiative (MAMII) is led by SafetyTech Accelerator, a firm established by UK maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register.

“Our mission is to make the world safer and more sustainable through wider adoption of technology,” said SafetyTech Accelerator.

TotalEnergies and Chevron joins the group with Seapeak, which was formerly known as Teekay LNG and alone has over 90 gas carriers, including 50 LNG tankers.

The three companies join the now more than 20 members of MAMII, emphasising its pivotal role in addressing methane abatement within the maritime sector.

Contributions

Chevron, Seapeak and TotalEnergies have pledged to bring their valuable insights and commitment to the critical challenge of “methane slip”, an escape of gas that adds to pollution from dual-fuel engines or other technology.

The initiative has additionally selected four technology providers to produce feasibility studies on the technologies which will reduce methane emissions from ships.

“The release of unburnt methane is a key obstacle to unlocking the full environmental potential of LNG as a maritime fuel,” said a statement.

Now in its second year, MAMII was launched in September 2022 by Safetytech Accelerator, bringing together industry leaders, technology innovators and maritime stakeholders to mitigate methane emissions.

“Chevron Shipping is very pleased to join MAMII. We are committed to reducing methane emissions from our LNG carriers and MAMII is an excellent opportunity for us to work with industry leaders on sharing best practices and exploring new technologies,” said Lloyd Bland, a senior manager at Chevron Shipping.

Chris McDade, Vice President of Operations at Seapeak said that LNG was already the preferred choice versus traditional marine fuels.

“However, but even more can be done to minimise the environmental impact,” McDade added.

Partners

“As a MAMII anchor partner, our fleet will directly participate in feasibility studies, new equipment trials and testing of technical solutions to reduce or eliminate methane slip from LNG vessels,” he stated.

The initiative is currently focussed on “on-ship” trials, expanding the range of pilot projects and starting to address fugitive methane emissions covering the entire spectrum of emissions on LNG-fuelled vessels.

“As the world's third-largest LNG player, we are delighted to be joining the MAMII initiative and contribute our expertise in reducing the emissions all along the gas value chain,” said Jerome Cousin, Senior Vice President of Shipping at TotalEnergies.

“It is key for TotalEnergies to further improve the environmental benefits of LNG as a marine fuel, already a major decarbonization lever for the maritime industry,” Cousin added.

The full list of MAMII members: Capital Gas, Carnival Corp. Celsius Tankers, Chevron, CoolCo, JPMorgan, Knutsen Group, Lloyd’s Register, Maran Gas Maritime, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Mitsui OSK Lines, MISC, NYK Line, Seapeak, Seaspan Corp., Shell, TMS Cardiff Gas, TotalEnergies, UK P&I Club and United Overseas Management.

Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), whose energy business fleet includes over 150 tankers for oil and other products and about 90 LNG carriers, reported tumbling profits and a fall in revenues amid global shipping market disruptions.

Nov 24 (LNGJ) - Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines, whose “energy business fleet” includes over 150 tankers for oil and other products and about 90 LNG carriers, reported higher profits and revenues for the first six months of the year. Revenues in the energy shipping division, one of five in the MOL Group, amounted to 214.9 billion yen ($1.43Bln), up from 189.1Bln yen in the same six months last year. Net profits increased to 37.6Bln yen ($252M) from 22.1Bln yen in the prior-year period.

   Takeshi Hashimoto, President and Chief Executive of MOL, said he was very pleased with the results for the first six months to the end of September. “We accumulated profits in the energy business and car-carrier business, both of which are the strengths of the MOL Group,” Hashimoto explained. “Performance in the first half exceeded forecasts as a result, and with the weaker yen also expected to have an impact on profits in the second half, we have raised the forecast for second-half profits to 220Bln yen ($1.47Bln),” Hashimoto added.

Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines has presented its annual update on activities, praising the role of the LNG fleet as it cemented its position as the world’s third-largest shipping group behind Japan’s NYK Line and the giant Chinese company COSCO Shipping.

The overview from President and Chief Executive Takeshi Hashimoto was contained in the updated presentation called “Blue Action 2035”, involving an initial first phase of 1.2 trillion yen ($8 billion) in investments.

“To date, the group has worked to strengthen its LNG carrier business and offshore business to increase the ratio of stable earnings,” Hashimoto explained.

“In particular, MOL’s LNG carrier business has grown to become one of the world’s leading businesses in terms of both scale and competitiveness,” he added.

Long-term contracts

“Furthermore, the group intends to increase the asset allocation to areas within the shipping industry where long-term contracts can be obtained, such as crude oil carriers and liquefied petroleum gas carriers, as well as to businesses different from industrial cargo transport, such as domestic ferries and cruise ships, and to land-based businesses such as real estate property and warehouses,” the CEO explained.

“We aim for the best mix of businesses that can resist recession, maintain stable dividends, and enjoy large profits when market conditions are favorable, by striking a good balance between market driven businesses such as containerships, which offer high returns but also large fluctuations in earnings and stable revenue businesses such as LNG carriers and real estate,” Hashimoto declared.

“The opportunity to enjoy unexpected profits over a long period can be said to be an attractive feature of the shipping business,” said the CEO.

“On the other hand, however, considering the huge capital investment required for consistent fleet renewal to continue the business, the company cannot solely rely on this irregular economic boom,” he added.

Hashimoto stated that while the shipping business would continue to be the core of the group and a source of “competitive advantage that generates high returns during market boom” MOL would also be looking to diversify and invest in other businesses to help stabilize the earnings base. 

LNG stability

MOL said that LNG continued to be a “stable revenue business” while containerships was a “market driven business” along with the car-carrier fleet.

MOL said it was currently the third-largest global shipping company with a fleet of799 vessels, just behind Japan’s NYK Line with 800-plus vessels, though well behind Chinas COSCO Shipping with around 1,300 vessels

Hashimoto noted thatLNG shipping was rapidly increasing around the world as an environmentally friendly and clean energy source.

“Since first participating in LNG transport in 1983, we have accumulated considerable expertise in this field, and boast the world’s leading share in the ownership, management, and operation of LNG carriers,” he stated.

In what it called its “energy business fleet”, MOL currently has 367 vessels operating, including 158 tankers for oil and other products and 94 LNG carriers and more than 30 other gas carriers including floating storage and regasification units, ethane carriers and LNG bunkering vessels.

“We have also entered the business of transporting ammonia, which is attracting attention as a next-generation clean fuel that does not emit CO2 when burned,” noted Hashimoto.