LNG

Qatar Gas Transport Company, known as Nakilat, has said that its LNG fleet of 69 vessels would be undergoing dry-dockings in a phased manner through to August 2025.

The global LNG fleet is heading for the 800 vessels mark from the current 700 ships with South Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) being the latest to receive a $850 million order for four newbuilds from Qatar.

The orders are increasing to keep pace with LNG and demand liquefaction plant expansion by nations such as Qatar and the US.

DSME, the world's No. 4 shipbuilder by order backlog, said it would build the vessels with 174,000 cubic metres of capacity at the Okpo shipyard on the south coast and deliver them by the first half of 2025.

The order is the first result of a $19 billion contract that DSME and two other Korean shipbuilders, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries, have signed with QatarEnergy to construct scores of LNG vessels through 2027.

The contract is in line with Qatar's plan to boost its LNG production capacity to 126 million tonnes per annum by 2027 from the current 77 million tons.

Analysts said that DSME's order is widely expected to lead to the securing of more orders for LNG carriers by the three major Korean shipbuilders.

DSME won $4 billion in orders in the first quarter of 2022, including eight LNG carriers, six containerships, one offshore platform and one depot maintenance order.

The six containerships ordered had a specification for dual-fuel capability.

Among the LNG shipping companies ordering the newbuilds in the first quarter was GasLog Ltd, the Greek LNG shipping firm.

GasLog is currently expanding its fleet ordered four newbuild 174,000 cubic metres capacity vessels for delivery in 2024 and 2025.

The yard added that the GasLog ships would also be equipped with the latest generation M-type Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection (ME-GI) propulsion system.

They would also fitting a more advanced re-liquefaction system.

Last year 68 LNG newbuilds were delivered compared with 47 LNG ships in 2020.

The global LNG fleet consisted of 700 vessels at the start of 2022 and is now headed for 800 in the next two or three years.

The current total includes 48 floating storage and regasification units that can act as import terminals. Total cargo capacity in 2022 was more than 105 million cubic metres.

The average spot charter rate for a 160,000 cubic metres LNG carrier stood at around $89,200 per day last year compared with $59,300 per day in the previous year.

Jan 12 (LNGJ) - South Korea, the largest builder of LNG carriers to transport the fuel worldwide, is increasing its own domestic fleet of LNG-powered ships and is offering grants of up to 20 percent for ship owners to convert. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said that 39 small ships fuelled by LNG are expected to be completed at local shipyards in 2021, including 23 vessels to be used by Korean government agencies. The Ministry noted that two LNG bunkering ships were also on order.

Sovcomflot, the Russian shipping line with 31 gas carriers in operation or on order in an overall fleet of almost 150 vessels, has taken delivery of its latest LNG carrier “SCF Barents”, chartered to Royal Dutch Shell and named after the 16th-century Dutch Arctic explorer Willem Barents.

The ship with capacity of 174,000 cubic metres was handed over at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea.

After the vessel’s naming ceremony, it embarked on its maiden voyage under a long-term time charter agreement with one of Shell’s subsidiaries.

Sovcomflot President and Chief Executive Igor Tonkovidov, attended the ceremony along with Cederic Cremers, Chairman of the Shell subsidiary in Russia.

Also representatives at the event were the executives of the three European banks which provided the shipping finance, ING Bank of the Netherlands, France’s Crédit Agricole and KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH of Germany.

Shell executive Catherine Hall, the General Manager of Global Operations and Commercial Services at Shell Trading & Supply was the vessel’s sponsor at the ceremony.

“SCF Group and Shell have enjoyed a long-standing partnership, which both parties seek to consistently expand and reinforce,” said CEO Tonkovidov of Sovcomflot, also known as SCF Group.

“For many years, Shell has been amongst the largest charterers of SCF’s vessels,” he added.

“The delivery of ‘SCF Barents’ is important as growing our fleet of gas carriers is a strategic priority for SCF,” stated Tonkovidov.

“With the delivery, we now have 15 gas carriers in operation, with another 16 under construction. Thus, two-thirds of all vessels currently ordered by SCF are destined to expand our gas fleet,” he explained.

The “SCF Barents” is the second vessel in a series of three with 174,000 cubic metres capacity in the new-generation Atlanticmax series ordered by SCF in 2018.

The first vessel of the series, “SCF La Perouse”, was delivered in February 2020.

“All vessels in the series are designed to maximise their energy efficiency and meet the most stringent environmental standards, with their fuel consumption substantially reduced compared to the preceding generation of vessels,” said SCF.

“Each LNG carrier is equipped with an advanced Mark III Flex cargo containment system, slow-speed dual-fuel X-DF engine, and a system that reduces nitrogen-oxide emissions while the vessel sails in liquid fuel mode,” the shipping line added.

“In addition, all vessels of the series are among the first globally to feature a boil-off gas partial re-liquefaction system, which significantly reduces cargo losses while on long voyages or awaiting cargo operations,” said SCF.

SCF is developing into one of the world’s premier energy shipping companies, specialising in crude oil, petroleum products and liquefied gas, as well as the servicing of offshore oil and gas production.

The Group’s fleet has total deadweight of over 12.7 million tonnes, including vessels owned through joint ventures. More than 80 vessels are of ice class for Arctic waters.

June 1 (LNGJ) - The Korea Development Bank said it lent 480 billion Korean won ($388M) along with several other banks to the South Korean shipyard, Hyundai Heavy Industries, as part of its pro-environment “green loans” programme. The other banks involved included UK-based HSBC and ICBC, a KDB affiliate.

   “Green loans usually are offered to finance eco-friendly projects, such as LNG carriers, renewable energies and high-efficient energies,” said a statement. Hyundai Heavy will use the funds from the loan to develop technologies for LNG carriers.

The American Bureau of Shipping, the US maritime classification society, and South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries are to cooperate on a next generation of LNG carriers in a joint development project signed at the Gastech 2019 conference in Houston.