LNG

The US Department of Energy has just published its latest liquefied natural gas monthly export data showing rising prices for the six plants and with China being the top monthly destination, while India overtook the UK into sixth place for overall total shipments received.

GasLog Ltd., the LNG fleet owner based in the Greek port of Piraeus with a total fleet of 35 vessels split with its US affiliate, has taken delivery of its latest carrier built in South Korea and chartered to UK utility Centrica plc.

The 180,000 cubic metres capacity vessel, named “GasLog Windsor”, was constructed at Samsung Heavy Industries.  It has X-DF propulsion, a combination of gas and diesel. and a Mark III Flex containment system from French technology firm GTT.

“Despite the industrial disruption in South Korea caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, the vessel was delivered on time and on budget,” said GasLog.

Centrica has US volumes from the US Gulf Coast and regasification capacity at the UK Isle of Grain terminal, located southeast of London. The UK utility also has cargoes booked from the Mozambique LNG project.

The company gave an operational update and said they remained focused on securing the health and safety of their employees, while also ensuring safe and reliable operations for their customers and the global natural gas supply chain.

As regards its fleet numbers, 19 carriers are owned by GasLog, 13 on the water and six on order, while one has been sold to a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. of Japan and leased back to GasLog under a long-term charter.

The remaining 15 LNG carriers are owned by Nasdaq-listed GasLog Partners.

During the past two month or so, GasLog said its operational activity has been 100 percent.

GasLog and GasLog Partners have also accelerate opportunistically their dry-docking schedules during the slowdown of LNG trade in February and March.

“Four dry-dockings will have been completed by mid-April, all of which are expected to be on time and within budget, including the installation of ballast water treatment systems,” said GasLog.

The charter parties for all of the Group’s term-chartered vessels remain in effect with revenues as per the contract terms.

“During the first quarter of 2020, the Group’s tri-fuel diesel electric vessels operating in the spot and short-term market delivered time charter equivalent earnings of around $44,000 per day,” said GasLog.
“Presently, all of the Group’s vessels operating in the spot and short-term market that are not undergoing dry-dockings are on charters through to at least May,” it added.

Gaslog noted that there has been a marked increase in activity in the spot and short-term market in recent weeks, primarily driven by a resumption in industrial activity in China.

“Against a backdrop of unprecedented global uncertainty, I am very proud of the dedication of all our employees, whose health and safety remains our first priority,” said Paul Wogan, Chief Executive.

“I especially thank our seafarers for their commitment and professionalism while apart from their families and friends,” stated Wogan.

The “GasLog Windsor” is immediately delivered into an attractive seven-year charter to Centrica.

“This vessel is the first of seven newbuildings due to be delivered by the third quarter of 2021,” said GasLog.

“On a fully delivered basis, 60 percent of GasLog’s directly owned fleet will be modern X-DF vessels on multi-year term charters,” it added.

National Grid of the UK said its Isle of Grain import terminal on the Medway River southeast of London sent out more regasified LNG last month than any other facility in Northwest Europe.

The Grain LNG terminal operator said that market conditions and a robust UK benchmark National Balancing Point natural gas price led to a record performance for December 2018.

“This is a stark contrast to December 2017, when the terminal only delivered gas above minimum send out on two occasions,” said Grain LNG.

“This winter, the UK has proved to be a strong market for LNG sellers looking to home excess LNG resulting from various supply projects coming on line,” said the company.

Grain LNG is currently the only UK terminal capable of accepting the full range of global LNG due to its extensive nitrogen processing plant.

“The UK has a more stringent Wobbe limit than most of Europe but plans are underway to relax this, which should lead to a significant reduction in costs as well as ensuring LNG is able to enter any of the UK terminals,” said the UK operator.

Other UK terminals have also seen increased activity, with both terminals in Milford Haven in Wales, the South Hook facility and the Dragon terminal, accepting many cargoes.

“We are delighted to see such high utilisation at our terminal and proud of our consistent performance and ability to deliver our customer nominations after a long period of low activity,” said Simon Culkin, the Grain LNG terminal manager.

The UK terminal noted that during 2018 a total of 26 million tonnes of additional LNG production hit the market and shipping charter rates reached a record high.

“These two factors resulted in traders delivering more LNG than expected to Europe as the differential available between European and Asian prices did not justify the additional shipping costs,” explained Grain LNG.

“The gas price in the UK remained steadfast and as utilisation at the Grain terminal rose it is expected that variable costs on a per unit basis would have decreased significantly as the terminal typically operates more efficiently at higher send-out as per the design basis,” it added.

Calor, one of the main providers in the UK of liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas at filling stations, will showcase its fuel offerings at an exhibition in London as it increases the availability of LNG across the country as part of a government-backed initiative for clean fuel use in British cities.