LNG

Gaztransport and Technigaz, the French designer of liquefied natural gas maritime and onshore storage systems, has received a second order from the Zvezda Shipyard in the Russian Far East for the tank designs of 10 ARC7 ice-breaking LNG carriers.

GTT said each vessel would offer a capacity of 172,600 cubic metres capacity and be fitted with the Mark III membrane containment system.

GTT technologies have been adapted for heavy environmental conditions, allowing LNC carriers to operate and navigate safely in ice-covered waters.

“These ARC7 vessels will contribute to the projects of the Russian LNG producer Novatek,” said GTT.

The 10 carriers are scheduled to be delivered between the second half of 2024 and the end of 2025.

“We are very pleased to work with Zvezda and look forward to continuing this partnership through this second order for 10 ARC7 ice-breaking LNG carriers,” said Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and Chief Executive of GTT.

The Zvezda complex is located at Bolshoi Kamen on the coast of the Sea of Japan and about 12 miles northeast of the city of Vladivostok.

Zvezda signed a technical assistance and license agreement with GTT in June 2020.

The new generation of carriers built by Zvezda will serve the new plant of Russian natural gas company Novatek and partners from France, China and Japan.

GTT said these unique LNG carriers are intended to transport cargoes from the project being developed on the Gydan Peninsula in northern Siberia.

Zvezda is owned by a consortium of Russian energy companies, including Rosneftegaz, Rosneft and the financial affiliate of Gazprom, Gazprombank.

The Russian shipbuilder obtained its GTT licence after a qualification process that began in September 2017, including the construction of a Mark III technology mock-up.

The shipyard plans to specialise in the construction of large-capacity vessels, ice-class ships, special vessels and marine equipment or offshore platforms.

Construction of LNG carriers is one of the priority directions of the production programme at the shipyard.

The first vessel for Arctic LNG II will be constructed at the Zvezda shipyard for Russian shipping line Sovcomflot and be financed by the Russian VEB Group, a development bank.
The first carrier and its sister ships will be capable of traversing the Northern Sea Route.

The newbuilds will be designed for year-round operations in the ice conditions of the Kara Sea and the Gulf of Ob and will be able to sail independently through ice over two metres thick.

Sovcomflot LNG carriers currently deliver cargoes for Yamal plant of Russian natural gas company Novatek and for Gazprom’s Sakhalin plant in the Russian Far East.

The US Department of Energy has just published its latest liquefied natural gas export data illustrating the drop in prices at the different plants and with China returning as the second-largest destination and two European nations, the UK and France, dropping out of the top five.

US cargo prices fell in April 2020, according to the new DoE report. Four out of the five large US facilities operating had lower prices in April 2020 versus the previous month.

The Corpus Christi plant in Texas, belonging to Cheniere Energy, was the only exporter to have higher prices compared with the previous month.

The proportion of spot cargoes compared with the contracted and other tolling-based deliveries has declined in 2020.

The number of overall spot cargoes dropped in April to 9.5 percent from 9.8 percent in the previous month. The total volumes shipped since February 2016 came to 4,720.4 billion cubic feet of which 449.6 Bcf were spot shipments.

The average year-to-date prices for each plant (from the export point) from highest to lowest were: Cove Point (Maryland) $6.49 per million British thermal units, Cameron (Louisiana) $5.84 per MMBtu, Sabine Pass (Louisiana) $4.80 per MMBtu, Freeport (Texas) $4.60 per MMBtu, Corpus Christi (Texas) $4.17 per MMBtu and Elba Island (Georgia) $2.99 per MMBtu.

Since US LNG exports began more than four years ago in February 2016, the DoE said a total of 1,446 cargoes had been shipped on LNG carriers and 440 in ISO containers through April 2020 to 38 different countries, including to four nations in the Caribbean who receive ISO containers.

The top five countries of destination represented 47.7 percent of total US LNG exports in April 2020 and China returned to the top five group as the UK and France dropped out.

The top five destinations for cargoes in April were: South Korea (24.3 billion cubic feet - seven cargoes); China (21.1 Bcf - six cargoes), Spain (20.0 Bcf - six cargoes), Japan (18.4 Bcf - five cargoes) and India (18.9 Bcf - five cargoes ).

Each April cargo amounted to 3.39 Bcf of natural gas in volume and totaled 210.4 Bcf, 13.8 percent lower that the March shipments of 244.1 Bcf, though 67 percent higher than in April 2019.

A total of 62 cargos were shipped in April compared with 75 in March 2020 and 42 shipments in April 2019.

The Top 10 countries of destination overall since 2016 through April 2020, by numbers of cargoes, are 1) South Korea 221 cargoes, 2) Mexico 150, 3) Japan 140, 4) Spain 93, 5) UK 77, 6) China 75, 7) Chile 70, 8) India 66, 9) France 61 and 10) Brazil 54 (including split cargoes).

The Sabine Pass plant sent out 27 cargoes in April, Cameron (11) Corpus Christi (10), Freeport (9), Cove Point (5) and Elba Island (0).

The average year-to-date price of US LNG through April 2020 was $4.49 per MMBtu versus March’s $4.66 per MMBtu.

Prices of shipments from the Sabine Pass export point in April averaged $4.42 per MMBtu ($4.68 per MMBtu in March).

Shipments from the Cove Point plant in April cost an average of $5.93 per MMBtu ($6.21 per MMBtu in March).

Prices at Corpus Christi in April averaged $3.59 per MMBtu ($3.08 per MMBtu in March).

Cameron plant exports cost an average price of $4.93 per MMBtu in April ($4.98 per MMBtu in March).

The Freeport facility posted average April prices of $4.41 per MMBtu ($5.01 per MMBtu in March).

The Elba Island plant shipped no cargoes in April and just its second cargo in January 2020 at a price of $2.57 versus $3.77 per MMBtu for the December 2019 cargo.

The US also sends regular ISO containers by cargo ship to the Caribbean nations of Barbados, the Bahamas and Haiti.

In April a total of 15 containers were delivered versus 14 in March 2020. The recipients were Bahamas eight, Barbados four and three for Haiti and none in the month for Jamaica.