LNG

Azeri gas for EU

Azerbaijan, the former republic of the Soviet Union, has started commercial natural gas supplies to southern Europe via the Trans- Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in competition to LNG and Russian pipeline gas from Gazprom. The TAP pipeline is 3,500 kilometres in length and is part of the $40-billion Southern Gas Corridor bringing natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz II field in the Caspian Sea, operated by UK oil and gas major BP. Azerbaijan plans to supply the markets of the European Union with 10 billion cubic metres per annum of pipeline gas, including 8 Bcm to Italy and a combined 2 Bcm to Greece and Bulgaria.

Capital ship delivery

Capital Gas Ship Management Corp., the Greek company based in the port of Piraeus, has taken delivery of the LNG carrier newbuild, the “Aristidis I”, from the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea. The “Arisidis I” has been chartered to BP Shipping of the UK for a period up to 12 years. “With cargo capacity of 174,000 cubic metres, the vessel is highly efficient, propelled with XDF engines and equipped with the latest available technologies, including an air lubrication system and increased filling limits (up to 93.5 percent),” said Capital Gas.

Pan Ocean newbuild

South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries has signed a deal valued at 199 billion South Korean won ($185 million), to build a liquefied natural gas carrier for the South Korean shipping company Pan Ocean Co. The Korean shipping line has delivered cargoes of LNG since 2008 for the nation’s largest importer, Korea Gas Corp.