LNG

Danish shipyard Fayard and CEO Thomas Andersen has been urged to halt all repair and maintenance work on Russia’s ice-class Arc7 LNG carriers, as servicing carried out in 2026 risks extending the vessels’ operational lifespan beyond the EU’s sanctions deadline.

ADNOC Logistics & Services has placed an order for four LNG carriers at China’s Jiangnan Shipyard in a deal valued at around US$900 million. Each of the newbuild vessels will have a capacity of 175 000 cubic meters and is scheduled for delivery in 2029.

Limited shipbuilding capacity in South Korea and China could slow down a record expansion of global LNG supply. One of the industry’s dependencies – the ability to physically move gas – rests on a supply chain it cannot control and cannot quickly replicate, Ikram Elloumi, director of research at Wood Mackenzie warns.

ADNOC is preparing to sign orders for a new batch of LNG carriers at Chinese shipyards in the coming days, the head of ADNOC Logistic & Services, Abdulkareem Al Masabi said. Four to six 175,000-cubic-meter LNG carriers will be ordered to accelerate the company’s entry into the global gas trading market. The latest move follows an order for six LNGC’s worth more than $1.2 billion from China's Jiangnan Shipyard, with the first vessel delivered in April.

Malaysia’s Petronas has signed 20‑year time charter agreements with MISC Group for five newbuild LNG carriers, with deliveries due to begin in 2029 and continue into 2030.

Golar LNG is holding off fresh capital for its fourth floating LNG unit, citing deteriorating yard economics. The 3.5 mtpa unit had been scheduled for delivery in late 2027 with not deployment location confirmed as yet.

KARMOL, a joint venture between Karpowership and Japan’s MOL, has named its latest Floating Storage and Regasification Unit (FSRU) at Seatrium’s yard in Singapore. The four conversions include Karmol LNGT Powership Africa, Karmol LNGT Powership Asia and Karmol LNGT Powership Europe.

The contract strengthens Seatrium’s position as a leader in the highly specialised FSRU conversion market. Works entail the instalment of a regasification skid and supporting systems such as cargo, utility, spread-mooring, offloading, electrical and automation.

KARMOL LNGT Powership Africa (ex-Dwiputra, built 1994) arrived off Dakar, Senegal, in June 2021. The vessel has a storage capacity of 125,000 cubic meters and a scalable regas capacity of 15 to 300 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), adding to the Turkish company’s global fleet of LNG-to-power solutions.

Karpowership, part of Istanbul-based Karadeniz Holding, has the world’s largest fleet of Powerships with 40 ships and a combined capacity of over 7,500 MW. Earlier this year, the Turkish company contracted MAN Energy Solutions to supply and install 48 dual-fuel engines.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), whose members include Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Cheniere Energy, is calling on President Trump to exempt LNG tankers from a new rule. The novel regulation mandates producers to move 1% of their exports on US-built ships starting from April 2028, and that share would rise to 15% from April 2047 onwards.

The policy sent shockwaves through the industry when announced by the US Trade Representative on April 17. In a first response, API told the U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and National Energy Dominance Council Chair Doug Burgum the ruling would risk to counteract progress of the Trump administration towards unleashing US LNG sales.

Individual US LNG vendors who do not comply with the rule risk to lose their export licenses, even though the percentages apply to the overall shipping industry and to vessels that LNG exporters do not own and control, API warns.

Quest to get rule abolished

The industry group has rushed to foster closer relation with USTR in a quest to get the rule amended, if not abolished. The aim is to ensure “feasible and durable policies that benefit consumers and advance American energy dominance," said Aaron Padilla, API's vice president of corporate policy.

Today, there are 792 LNG carriers in operation around the world, according to the AXS Marine shipping consultancy. Out of that total, the number of ships built in South Korea and Japan is 703 combined. Some 58 LNG carriers were built in China – and just five come from US shipyards and these 1970-era ships are laid up and currently not in operation, AXS Marine specified.

Unfeasible deadline

There is no way that US shipyards can churn out vessels fast enough to meet the deadline set by USTR and the Trump administration, market participants warn. "There are no such vessels in existence today, and building them would take decades, making compliance impossible for the industry," Charlie Riedl, executive director at the Center for LNG, told Reuters in a statement.

In fact, it would take five years to build one LNG carrier at either of the two American shipyards that have sufficiently long docks to build such a vessel. API CEO Mike Sommers hence urged the Trump administration “to exempt crude oil and refined product imports and exports - consistent with this Administration's approach to exempt these same products from baseline and reciprocal tariffs.”

Finish technology group Wärtsilä will supply engines and its LNGPac fuel gas handling system for a new research vessel, under construction at Fassmer shipyard in Germany. All equipment is due delivered to the yard in mid-2018, for the vessel to enter service in early 2020.