LNG

Awilco LNG, the small Norwegian-based shipping provider with two 156,000 cubic metres capacity vessels, the “WilForce” and the “WilPride”, has finally received a full and final settlement for a collision involving the “Wilforce” and a bulk carrier off Singapore at the end of May 2019.

Norway’s national energy company Equinor, a main pipeline natural gas and LNG supplier to Europe as well as being a prominent trader, made total tax contributions of over $49 billion in the last tax year, including $1Bln in environmental taxes under the EU Emissions Trading System, as prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Equinor said it focused on securing safe and reliable delivery of energy and became the largest provider of natural gas to Europe as supplies from Russian supplier Gazprom virtually ended.

“Equinor is dedicated to contributing to progress for the societies where we operate, and paying tax where value is created is an important part of this,” said Equinor Chief Financial Officer Torgrim Reitan.

Special year

“It was also a special year in 2022 in the energy markets with high and volatile prices, followed by substantial tax contributions,” Reitan added.

Equinor group companies contributed with tax, host government entitlements, royalties and fee payments totalling $49.2Bln. Of this, $44.3Bln was paid to Norway, where Equinor has the largest operations.

The company explained that financial results in 2022 were strengthened by the higher prices across energy markets compared with 2021 and with particularly high prices and higher production of gas to Europe.

“Tax payments from Equinor provides governments and authorities with opportunities to increase welfare and strengthen their societies,” said Equinor.

Governance

The Tax Contribution Report provides information about the corporate income tax Equinor paid in countries and locations where it does business.

“The report discloses Equinor’s approach to tax and tax strategy, compliance, and governance,” it added.

Equinor also emphasized that it supported policies promoting the goals of the Paris Agreement and backed a price on carbon emissions as a measure to drive emissions reductions.

“The CO2 tax in Norway has promoted development of technology and solutions to produce oil and gas with lower emissions from operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf,” said CFO Reitan.

In 2022, Equinor said it paid $1.1 billion in environmental taxes and fees, including carbon quotas within the EU Emissions Trading System.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to the largest exporters, posted solid net income and increased vessel operating revenues with all ships available after previous dry-dockings.

Avenir LNG, the London-headquartered global energy supplier for small-scale projects and gas carriers, has awarded the management of three LNG bunker vessels to Wilhelmsen Ship Management of Norway.

Norwegian companies Höegh LNG and Aker BP have entered a strategic partnership to develop a carbon transport and storage offering for industrial carbon-dioxide emitters in Northern Europe.

Golar LNG Ltd, the shipping company now specialising in a small but growing fleet of floating LNG project vessels, reported first-quarter net losses as it maintained “strong engagement with prospective FLNG” clients, including signing an accord with Nigeria National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) for offshore liquefaction projects.

Stolt-Nielsen Limited, the Oslo-listed and London-based owner of a small tanker fleet including for LNG through its stake in Avenir LNG, reported fiscal first quarter net profits of $99.8 million as it also sold a stake in LNG shipping firm CoolCo.

Stolt-Nielsen’s profits were well up on the $52.3M posted in the same three months last year.

Quarterly revenues were $708.7M compared with $606.2M in the prior-year quarter for a business that also spans energy storage, terminals, tank containers and fish farms as well as natural gas.

The Stolt-Nielsen Gas unit reported a wider operating loss of $3.4M compared with a loss of $2.9M.

CoolCo shares sold

During the quarter ending on February 28, 2023, the group said it disposed of 923,565 shares in shipping company CoolCo for $11.7M, resulting in a gain on the sale of $2.5M which has been transferred from the fair value reserve to retained earnings.

CoolCo is listed on the Euronext Growth Oslo exchange. Stolt-Nielsen also owns a stake in Golar LNG Limited.

Stolt-Nielsen is additionally a founder of Avenir LNG in 2018 and still holds its stake in Avenir, the owner of a small-scale import terminal on the Italian island of Sardinia and in a small-scale LNG carrier fleet.

The two other shareholders in Avenir are Norwegian shipping companies Golar and Höegh LNG.

In its earnings statement, Stolt-Nielsen said that the Stolt Tankers unit reported operating profit of $87.1M, up from $78.2M, largely driven by higher contract rates and improved spot volumes.

The Stolthaven Terminals business reported operating profit of $25.1M to the end of February 2023 versus the previous quarter’s $20.8M as operating revenue at the terminals in the US and Brazil improved.

Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, Chief Executive of Stolt-Nielsen, said the quarter continued where 2022 ended with a solid performance from all businesses during what was typically the seasonally weakest quarter of the year.

“Stolt Tankers improved on the prior quarter results as we began to see the impact of contract renewals on our earnings. Results at Stolthaven Terminals improved on the back of continued high utilisation, although throughput volume was down slightly,” the CEO explained.

“At Stolt Tank Containers a decrease in container liner freight rates impacted the rates we charge our customers, and with the easing of logistics bottlenecks customers are returning tanks more quickly, reducing demurrage revenue,” he added.

Höegh LNG Holdings, the owner of 10 floating storage and regasification units and two conventional LNG carriers, reported net losses for the fourth quarter and the year during a busy period as three vessels were prepared for FSRU operations in Germany and Brazil.

Kanfer Shipping AS, one of the leading companies for small-scale gas solutions based in Norway, has signed an accord on establishing an attractive hub for liquefied natural gas bunkering and small-scale LNG distribution in and out of the Central American nation of Panama.

Nimofast Brasil SA has signed a partnership agreement with the Norwegian company Kanfer Shipping AS to offer small and medium-scale LNG shipping, small-scale floating storage units (FSUs) and LNG bunkering to its customers in Brazil from 2025.

“The LNG vessels and LNG bunker ships will be loaded via the permanently based FSU at the Nimofast LNG import and distribution terminal in the state of Paraná,” said Kanfer.

Kanfer is one of the leading companies for small-scale LNG and gas solutions based in Norway.

Kanfer explained that its aim was to help stranded customers in emerging markets to efficiently access LNG through transport and storage and to provide clean and cost-effective bunkering infrastructure.

“We are very much looking forward to cooperating with Nimofast by using our patented technologies to improve both the availability and accessibility of LNG for the customers in Brazil as well as being cost efficient,” said Stig Hagen, Chief Executive of Kanfer.

LNG gap

“Kanfer’s small-scale solutions for sea transport, storage and bunkering create a virtual LNG pipeline, solving a critical gap in the LNG supply chain,” stated Hagen.

Nimofast is an LNG project development company with its roots in trading and is fully licensed and authorized by the Brazilian regulator, the National Agency of Petroleum (ANP), to import LNG to Brazil.

Nimofast recently announced that it secured enough LNG offtake volumes to justify a final investment decision via supply contracts with GNLink, a company controlled by asset manager Lorinvest, and with energy trading company Migratio Gas.

The terminal is expected to be operational in 2025.

“We noticed that many clients in Brazil, either require relatively small volumes of LNG, or do not have suitable port infrastructure to build or to justify their own LNG import terminal,” explained Nimofast President Ramon Reis.

Port drafts

“Via the partnership with Kanfer Shipping, we are able to offer and deliver LNG to any customer along the Brazilian coastline regardless of the requested volumes or port draft limitations,” he added.

“We also see LNG bunkering as a growth market to meet environmental and economic objectives in shipping,” stated Reis.

The third party in the venture is Maius GmbH, a Swiss structuring and project finance firm which is advising Nimofast on the structuring of its debt and equity, strategic partnerships and risk mitigation of the project.

“We congratulate Nimofast and the partners on achieving another important milestone that will contribute to the energy transition and security in Brazil,” said Stefan M. Rohmer, the Maius CEO.

“We are proud to be part of the team and to be the lead adviser for this privately-funded, market-leading project,” declared Rohmer.