LNG

Feb 19 (LNGJ) - Pavilion Energy, the Singaporean natural gas and LNG bunkering company, has successfully deployed the newbuild small-scale LNG fuelling vessel “Brassavola” for her maiden ship-to-ship fuel operation. The Singapore-built “Brassavola” was delivered just two weeks ago to Pavilion under a charter. The bunkering operation involved a dual-fuel bulk carrier, the “Mount Api”, chartered by global commodities and mining company Rio Tinto. This follows the recent delivery of the “Brassavola” to Pavilion Energy at the end of January 2024.

   “The steady development of our LNG bunkering solutions from truck operations to our ship-to-ship LNG bunkering activities today is a testament to the strong operational expertise of our team,” said Malcolm Lim, Division Head of Singapore Hub at Pavilion. The “Brassavola” will also be deployed by TotalEnergies Marine Fuels to serve its customers under a long-term agreement with Pavilion.The bunkering ship was built by Seatrium and delivered to the local owner Indah Singa Maritime, a subsidiary of Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore has issued the annual bunkering data from the Asian city state’s world-class shipping fuel industry listing Equatorial Marine Fuel Management Services as the top bunker supplier in the hub where LNG fuel is also growing in importance and with the fuel suppliers Trafigura and Sinopec taking second and third spots.

Pavilion Energy, the Singapore natural gas and LNG company, has named Alan Heng as Group Chief Executive effective from April 2022 as the company continues to support Asian expansion in trading and bunkering activities.

Gulf Agency Company (GAC), the provider of shipping agency services, has signed a cooperation accord with Spark Commodities of Singapore to support the provision of data to a platform covering the LNG freight market.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has awarded a third LNG bunkering supplier licence to French energy major Total to operate in the Asian city-state supplying ship-to-ship fuel.

Pavilion Energy, the subsidiary of Singapore wealth fund Temasek, said its trading unit had signed an agreement with US major Chevron Corp. for the Asian city state to receive LNG shipments for six years with emissions measured along the value chain.

Avenir LNG, a company owned by Norwegian shipping and infrastructure operators, said its newest 20,000 cubic metres capacity LNG bunkering vessel has been launched in China and it would be delivered later in 2021.

The “Avenir Allegiance” entered the water at the Zhoushan Changhong Sinopacific Shipyard Co. in China’s eastern Zheijang province.

“The vessel is scheduled to be delivered from the yard in the third quarter of this year and she will join the Avenir LNG fleet as the world’s largest LNG bunkering vessel,” said Avenir.

Avenir is a joint venture owned by London-based Norwegian shipping and storage company Stolt-Nielsen and its peer fleet owners and project companies, Höegh LNG and Golar LNG.

The company said that the “Avenir Allegiance” would be Cayman Island-flagged and is the fourth of six newbuilds delivered to Avenir.

Avenir’s first newbuild delivery, the “Avenir Advantage”, took place in October 2020 and will be followed by the “Avenir Accolade”, the “Avenir Aspiration”, the “Avenir Allegiance”, the “Avenir Ascension” and the “Avenir Achievement” during 2021.

“We are delighted to see the latest, and largest, vessel in the Avenir LNG fleet being successfully launched by our partners CIMC SOE,” said Peter Mackey, Chief Executive of Avenir LNG Limited.

“We look forward to taking delivery of the ‘Avenir Allegiance’ later this year,” he added.

Avenir CEO Mackey stated that as the largest LNG bunkering vessel in the world, the “Avenir Allegiance” was a clear demonstration of Avenir’s commitment to developing new LNG supply chains.

“She will play a critical role in helping the shipping industry to transition to LNG as a more environmentally sustainable fuel,” stated Mackey.

“The ‘Avenir Allegiance’ will operate as both an LNG bunkering vessel and an LNG supply vessel,’ explained the CEO.

“This highly flexible vessel underscores our strategy of simultaneously unlocking multiple new LNG markets with multi-functional assets.,” said Mackey.

Avenir is building up a fleet of LBVs vessels of between 7,500 cubic metres capacity and 20,000 cubic metres capacity.

Another of the LBVs, the “Avenir Advantage”, was delivered in November 2020 to the Future Horizon joint venture comprising Malaysia’s MISC Group and Avenir.

Additionally, Malaysian energy company Petronas has chartered the “Avenir Advantage” from Future Horizon for a period of three years.

Norwegian firm Stolt-Nielsen started up the small-scale LNG sector firm Avenir in 2015 and its two investors, Golar and Höegh, each have 22.5 percent of Avenir to Stolt-Nielsen’s 45 percent.

The experienced shipping partners of Avenir are aiming to build up the market in small-scale LNG supply to off-grid industry for power generation and transportation fuel, as well as providing infrastructure to support the development of LNG as a marine fuel.

Avenir additionally has an 80 percent stake in a small-scale LNG import project company Higas on the Italian island of Sardinia, while the local partners are Gas & Heat and CPL Concordia, each holding 10 percent of the Sardinia venture.

The Singapore Energy Market Authority is seeking to appoint two new official liquefied natural gas importers for the Asian city state as future natural gas use is set to expand along with its activities as a regional LNG Hub.

The first Singapore LNG bunkering vessel owned by Shell Eastern Petroleum and Keppel Offshore and Marine Ltd has been launched at the Keppel Nantong Shipyard in China.

Sea-LNG, a global coalition led by energy and shipping companies backing the increased use of liquefied natural gas as a maritime fuel, has signed up a Port in Oman in the Arabian Peninsula aiming to be a main LNG base with its own production plant.