LNG

Stolt-Nielsen Ltd, the Oslo-listed and London-based owner of a small tanker fleet including for LNG through its stake in Avenir LNG, reported a second-quarter net profit of $113.3 million before an incremental loss provision of $155M related to the “MSC Flaminia” fire back in 2012.

Avenir LNG, the European small-scale LNG fleet owner, terminals operators and a supplier to off-grid customers, has joined with a Chinese bunkering company to deliver LNG fuel to a ship in Shanghai owned by Israel’s ZIM Integrated Shipping Services.

Avenir LNG, the Norwegian-listed LNG operator and vessel owner, will charter one of its small-scale LNG carriers to Shell after it is delivered from a Chinese shipyard next year.

Avenir said it had entered into a Time Charter Party (TCP) with Shell North America LLC for the “Avenir Achievement”, a newbuild with 20,000 cubic metres capacity.

Avenir is a joint venture owned by London-based Stolt-Nielsen and partners Höegh LNG and Golar LNG Ltd.

The supply vessel is expected to be delivered to Avenir in the second quarter of 2022 and the time charter to Shell is expected to begin at the start of 2023 for a period of three years and with an option to extend for up to five years.

This charter, including options, increases Avenir’s overall vessel charter revenues backlog to $81.0 million as of December 2021.

“The vessel will be equipped with boil-off gas reliquefication and simultaneous operations (SIMOPs) capabilities, making her the world’s largest, most efficient and versatile LNG bunker supply vessel,” said Avenir.

Commenting on the deal, Peter Mackey, Chief Executive of Avenir, said he was delighted with the charter deal and to see “Avenir Achievement” playing an important role in expanding Shell’s LNG bunkering capabilities.

“This deal marks another major achievement in Avenir’s development as we fix the last vessel in our current newbuilding programme. We are thrilled to welcome a world-class organisation like Shell as the latest customer for Avenir,” added Mackey.

In its most recent earnings, Avenir posted a nine-month operating profit of $291,000 compared with an operating loss of $4.84 million in the same period of 2020.

There was a narrowing of Avenir’s net losses for the first nine months of 2021 to $1.28M versus $4.32M in the same prior-year period for the business focused on providing infrastructure to support the development of LNG as a marine fuel and supplying the off-grid power generation and transport fuel sectors.

Avenir’s revenues increased by $9.7M compared with the previous nine months of 2020 to $10.5M following the delivery of its first two small-scale LNG carriers, the “Avenir Advantage” and the “Avenir Accolade”, in October 2020 and March 2021 respectively.

Oct 6 (LNG) - Stolt-Nielsen, the London-headquartered Norwegian company with interests including terminals, shipping and the Avenir small-scale LNG business, said third-quarter net profits rose to $33.5 million from revenues of $580.9M, an increase on the prior-year quarter’s earnings of $30.36M and revenues of $474.0M.

   “Momentum at Avenir LNG has accelerated with the commissioning of the Sardinia terminal and multiple ship deliveries throughout the second half of 2021, said Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen,company Chief Executive. “The first two vessels are already employed under solid charter arrangements with Petronas (Malaysia) and New Fortress Energy (USA). The third ship, ‘Avenir Aspiration’, now due for delivery, will enter into service to supply our HIGAS terminal in Sardinia, which began commercial operations in August,” added the CEO.

Stolt-Nielsen, the London-headquartered Norwegian company with terminal, shipping and Avenir LNG project interests, reported stable first-quarter earnings amid US disruptions and said the LNG import terminal on the Italian island of Sardinia would come on line in May.

Norwegian-listed company Stolt-Nielsen said its natural gas unit was still pursuing its small-scale liquefied natural gas projects through Avenir LNG, including the delivery of six small-scale carriers.

Stolt-Nielsen Gas is continuing to invest in opportunities in LNG shipping and distribution, said the company with offices in London in its business review just published of all its divisions.

Its assets currently include 45 percent of Avenir LNG, a 2.3 percent stake in Golar LNG and six small-scale LNG carriers newbuilds under construction.

“Avenir’s strategy is to source, ship, store, distribute and sell LNG to small-scale, stranded communities that do not have access to a natural gas grid,” said Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, the Chief Executive of the Stolt-Nielsen group.

Two strategic partners joined SNG as investors in Avenir, Golar LNG Ltd and Höegh LNG, each taking a 22.5 percent stake with Stolt-Nielsen retaining 45 percent.

Avenir has four 7,500 cubic metres capacity LNG vessels and two 20,000 cubic metre capacity carriers on order as it also continues to develop its first LNG terminal on the Italian island of Sardinia.

Stolt-Nielsen has LNG in its portfolio along with its tanker, storage, containers and sea farm businesses.

The Norwegian company with a presence in worldwide locations has its ordinary shares listed on the Oslo stock exchange.

The company reiterated in the annual report that its small-scale carriers were still on track for delivery in 2020 and 2021. 

Keppel Marine of Singapore is scheduled to deliver two 7,500 cubic metre LNG vessels by mid-2020, from their affiliated yards in Nantong, China. 

In 2021, Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering (SOE) will deliver two more 7,500 cubic metres capacity carriers as well as two with 20,000 cubic metres capacity from their yards, also in Nantong. 

Each of the ships is designed to perform safe ship-to-ship bunkering.

In October 2019, together with Malaysian shipping company, MISC Berhard, Avenir signed a term charter with Malaysia’s national oil and LNG production company Petronas.

The first 7,500 cubic metres capacity carrier will be based in Malaysia, enabling Petronas to provide bunkering to LNG-fueled vessels, plus transport services for small-scale terminals in the region. 

Avenir announced another a term charter in November 2019 with Golar Power to deliver LNG using the second 7,500 cubic metres capacity vessel to various ports in Brazil, as well as providing ship-to-ship bunkering. 

“Over the longer term, Avenir plans to develop new markets through small-scale LNG import solutions, invest in additional tonnage where necessary and expand its network of strategic bunkering locations,” said SNG.

The Stolt-Nielsen unit reported an operating loss of $4.1 million for 2019. 

“The losses were mainly attributable to costs related to the continued development of various small-scale LNG projects,” it added.

The company noted that during the fourth quarter of 2019, Stolt-Nielsen sold its investment in Avance Gas Holdings Ltd for $25.9 million. The $10.8 million gain on the sale was recorded to retained earnings.