Energy Needs News

Shipowner SFL Corporation on Wednesday announced it has agreed to acquire three new LR2 product tankers in combination with long term time charters to an energy and commodities company.The vessels are currently under construction in China, with the latest eco-design features, SFL said, noting the sellers are affiliates of the company’s largest shareholder Hemen Holding Ltd.SFL said it will acquire the three ships for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $230 million, in…

Italian marine engineering consultancy RINA has secured a contract from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) to carry out a comprehensive Global Investment Plan Study aimed at steering the cruise sector towards a sustainable future.The research will provide a worldwide scenario focused on the cruise sector, mapping real-time energy needs, infrastructure and regulations with foresight scenarios extending to 2050.The cruise sector is recognized as one of the most active in driving the shipping industry towards greater sustainability.Today…

Singapore’s Strategic Marine and Taiwan’s Prosperous Wind Shipping have delivered the hybrid-ready support vessel for the Yunlin offshore wind farm in Taiwan.The StratCat 27 hybrid-ready vessel is designed for the transfer of technicians and cargo, essential for the construction, operation, and maintenance of offshore wind farms.Owned and operated by Prosperous Wind Shipping, the vessel will be able to meet the specific needs of the offshore wind industry in Taiwan.Set to start operations at the Yunlin offshore wind farm in April 2024…

Jumbo Offshore has been awarded a contract by Yunneg Wind Power Co. (YWPC) for the removal of monopiles at the Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm in Taiwan.The contract award represents an expansion of the company’s existing scope, which has involved transport and installation of the project’s transition pieces.Under the amendment, some monopiles, which were installed during an earlier project phase, are to be removed approximately 3m below mean seabed level. To undertake this scope, Jumbo…

Idemitsu Tanker, IINO Kaiun Kaisha (IINO Lines), Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK), and Nihon Shipyard have established a consortium to conduct joint research and development of design concepts for Malacca Max-type very large crude oil carriers (VLCCs).The design concepts, including machinery and environment equipment, will be developed with a view of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the consortium that was initiated by Idemitsu Tanker said.Aiming to reduce emissions by 40% or more compared to previous levels…

Every day, nearly 60 fully loaded very large crude-oil carriers sail between the Persian Gulf and Chinese ports, carrying about half of the oil that powers the world's second-largest economy.As the vessels enter the South China Sea, they ply waters increasingly controlled by China's growing military, from the missile batteries and airfields at its bases on disputed islands to its stealthy Type 055 destroyers.But when crossing the Indian Ocean, joined by others headed to China from Africa and Brazil…

MSC Cruises confirmed it exercised options for two new World Class cruise ships from French shipbuilder Chantiers de l’Atlantique. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered newbuilds, currently referred to as World Class 3 and 4, will be delivered in 2026 and 2027. MSC Cruises also holds an option for a fifth ship in the series.The newly ordered ships will be an evolution of the World Class vessels, MSC World Europa and MSC World America, which already perform better than the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) requirement.

U.S.-based LNG firm Excelerate Energy has signed a long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with the Bangladesh Oil, Gas & Mineral Corporation (Petrobangla). Petrobangla has agreed to purchase 0.85 to 1.0 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from Excelerate for a term of 15 years beginning January 2026. Excelerate will deliver 0.85 MTPA of LNG in 2026 and 2027 and 1 MTPA from 2028 to 2040.Excelerate first opened the Bangladesh market to LNG in 2018 with the development of its integrated Moheshkhali LNG floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminal.

The sailaway ceremony for the Tango floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) unit and Excalibur floating storage unit (FSU) was held Saturday to mark the vessels' sail away from Dubai to Congo, where they will serve Eni's Congo LNG project, whose first phase will start in December 2023.Tango FLNG, which has a liquefaction capacity of approximately 1 billion cubic meters per annum of gas (BCMA), will be moored 3 kilometers offshore along with the Excalibur FSU upon their arrival to Congo.EXMAR is serving as the engineering, procurement and conversion (EPC) contractor for this project, and has desi

Alma Clean Power, Odfjell, and DNV have this week announced a new milestone in the development of a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system.The fuel cell system will be installed on a chemical tanker by the end of 2024, aiming to demonstrate the potential for significantly lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions for deep-sea shipping, the trio said at an event in Singapore."As the maritime industry faces major challenges adjusting to zero emissions over the next decades, fuel cells demonstrate a promising potential for scalable use for longer distances and larger energy needs in shipping.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Monday it had completed its environmental review of the proposed Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project.“The completion of our environmental review marks another step towards a clean energy future—one that benefits communities and co-exists with other ocean users,” said BOEM Director Elizabeth Klein. “The best available science and knowledge shared by Tribes, other government agencies, local communities, ocean users…

When most people discuss energy sources such as fossil fuel and green energy, it is from an “either-or” perspective. Some favor the former while others advocate for the latter. However, what is often lost in the arguments on both sides is that regardless of the type of energy being extracted or generated, those platforms that are offshore, especially oil rigs, oil and gas pipelines, and wind farms, are incredibly vulnerable to anyone who wants to attack these sources in wartime…

MSC Cruises’ second liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered ship MSC Euribia has completed sea trials ahead of planned delivery in the coming weeks.Flowing four days of "intensive systems tests" in the Atlantic Ocean, MSC Cruises’ latest flagship will receive finishing touches at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint Nazaire, France before being officially delivered to MSC Cruises on May 31.Cleaner burning LNG is set to play a key role in the transition to the decarbonization of international shipping…

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said Friday that it would hold an oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico in March 2023.The Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale 259 will offer approximately 13,600 blocks on 73.3 million acres in the Western, Central, and Eastern Planning Areas on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. Lease Sale 259 was one of three offshore lease sales initially cancelled by the Biden Administration in May 2022. The subsequent Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) mandated that BOEM hold Lease Sale 259 no later than March 31…

U.S. maritime and logistics company Crowley said it has made a deal that could see it lease and develop an offshore wind terminal in Louisiana's Port Fourchon.The Right of First Refusal agreement was reached during Wednesday’s Greater Lafourche Port Commission (GLPC) Board Meeting in Cut Off, La.The more than 40-acre site, encompassing over 2,200 linear feet of waterfront property, is expected to become the home of a purpose-driven offshore wind facility in the coming years. Located on Slip C…

Sweden-based PowerCell said it has signed a letter of intent to negotiate final terms concerning one of the marine industry’s largest hydrogen fuel cell projects. Headed by Norwegian electrical integrator SEAM, the project comprises a pair of hydrogen fuel cell powered ferries for passenger and cargo transport in northern Norway, scheduled to enter service in 2025.Torghatten Nord in January 2022 won a contract from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration for operation of the ferry routes crossing the Vestfjord between the Lofoten Islands and Bodø in northern Norway.

Sembcorp Marine celebrated the naming of JMS Sunshine, its first of a series of LNG hybrid tugs specially designed for domestic service in Singapore.Sembcorp Marine commissioned the design and build of the world’s first LNG hybrid tug in 2018, and the company plans to build a fleet of tugs to progressively replace the existing diesel-powered fleet operated by Jurong Marine Services (JMS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine Ltd and a licensed operator of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.

U.S. maritime services company Crowley and Danish offshore service company ESVAGT will jointly build and operate a service operations vessel (SOV) under a long-term charter with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. The vessel will serve in the U.S. offshore wind market.Under the new contract, Crowley will manage and crew the SOV to support Siemens Gamesa’s service operations on the Dominion Energy Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project. ESVAGT, based in Denmark, will support Crowley with design…

Testing, inspection and certification specialist Bureau Veritas and nuclear power technology developer ThorCon have entered an agreement for the technology qualification and the subsequent development of a 500-megawatt (MW) molten salt nuclear power barge for operations in Indonesia.The concept developed by ThorCon is a molten salt fission reactor that operates at low pressure and uses liquid fuel. The liquid fuel enables much higher operating temperatures, leading to greater…

Nigerian company UTM Offshore has signed a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the development of an FLNG facility in Nigeria with JGC Corporation, Technip Energies, and KBR.This will be Nigeria's first floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility. Africa currently has two FLNG units in operation, the Hili Episeyo in Cameroon, and, as of recently, the Coral Sul FLNG in Mozambique. In Nigeria, the FLNG unit will be used for development of offshore block OML  204.According to Chief Timipre Sylva…

The Biden administration on Wednesday said it had reinstated bids from a November 2021 Gulf of Mexico sale of offshore oil and gas drilling rights, a requirement buried in U.S. President Joe Biden’s new climate change and drug pricing law.The move comes after a federal judge in January vacated the sale’s results, saying the administration had failed to properly account for the auction’s impact on global warming.The Inflation Reduction act, which President Joe Biden signed into law last month…

Classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) approved the second generation of the REXH2 developed by Energy Observer Developments (EODev), a turnkey power generator for the supply of low carbon electricity on board ships. The hydrogen PEM fuel cell at its heart makes it possible to meet energy needs ranging from 70 kW to about one megawatt when several REXH2 are installed in parallel.The Approval in Principle (AIP) obtained by EODev for its REXH2 fuel cell design follows a thorough design review against the latest classification rules and regulations…

Ballard Power Systems announced it has received Europe’s industry-first type approval from classification society DNV for its marine fuel cell module FCwave.Ballard said its high-power FCwave module is a flexible solution that can support the energy needs of various vessel types as well as onshore power. The scalable 200kW power module offers a plug-and-play replacement for conventional diesel engines.The type approval process is extensive, involving a series of simulations and tests which were carried out at Ballard’s global Marine Center of Excellence in Hobro…