Gas Markets News

If nothing else, building vessels in the U.S. is a complicated business.In a session on the domestic shipbuilding marketplace, at Marine Money’s late-November 2023 conference held in New Orleans, Ben Bordelon, president and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards (with more than a dozen facilities, in Mississippi and Louisiana), described his company’s architecture as a “three-legged stool approach: commercial newbuilds, government newbuilds and repair/conversion capabilities”.On the same panel…

“The winds of change are blowing wild and free.” – Bob DylanIn the U.S. offshore wind industry, developments over recent months have placed an exclamation point on the word “wild”. Yes, the wind still blows “free”, but mounting challenges have proven that harnessing its power offshore is anything but. In fact, far from it, as rising materials costs, high interest rates, labor shortages and supply chain delays, among other issues, have delivered heavy blows to the commercial viability of several projects.

Russia energy infrastructure has been hit by drone attacks and fires in the past month, adding to uncertainty in global oil and gas markets already rocked by the conflict in the Middle East.Russia and Ukraine have targeted each other's energy infrastructure in strikes designed to disrupt supply lines and logistics and to demoralise their opponent as they try to get the edge in a nearly two-year-old war that shows no sign of ending.Following are recent major incidents at Russian oil facilities in the past month:* A Russian appointed official said on Jan.

An offshore wind industry is growing in the U.S. with an aim to meet the Biden Administration’s goal of 30 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind by 2030, and eventually 110 GW by 2050.But as is the case for any new industry that is building up, there are going to be bumps along the way. The U.S. offshore wind industry is currently grappling with rising costs amid unprecedented supply chain issues and inflation, among other issues.One of the main challenges unique to offshore wind is a shortage of vessels.

Political pressure is building within the European Union to tackle the daunting challenge of closing a loophole in its efforts to stop using Russian fossil fuels: liquefied natural gas (LNG).In the year since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the EU has placed sanctions on seaborne oil and coal imports from Russia.It has drastically cut reliance on Russian pipeline gas, despite not imposing sanctions on the fuel. But at the same time, EU countries have increased their overall purchases of Russian LNG…

A flood of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects due online worldwide in mid-decade will vie against lower-cost renewable energy and a revived nuclear power sector, which could rock gas prices and hurt some proposed projects, analysts say.Proposed and approved new LNG plants would boost LNG supply by 67% increase to 636 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2030 from 2021 levels, potentially saturating the gas market."There's over a trillion dollars of natural gas infrastructure being built in the world today.

The owner of the second-largest U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant has not yet provided regulators with a final repair plan, according to a person familiar with the matter, likely pushing any restart into the first quarter of next year.The outage since a fiery explosion in June has underscored the global demand for new gas supplies and required major LNG traders and customers of the roughly 16 million tonne per year processing facility to buy replacement cargoes at huge markups.Freeport LNG had pledged in August to restart gas-processing by early to mid-November…

Avenir LNG Limited announced it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Oxelösunds Hamn AB for the development and construction of an LNG/BioLNG Terminal in the Port of Oxelösund, Sweden.As part of the agreement, Avenir intends to acquire 100% of the shares in OXGAS AB, the dedicated project company for the terminal which is currently owned by Oxelösunds Hamn AB.OXGAS AB has secured all environmental and construction permits required to build the LNG/BioLNG Terminal in the Port…

ADS Maritime Holding has agreed to acquire a 5 % shareholding in AET Sea Shuttle AS and AET Sea Shuttle II AS, the owners of four modern shuttle tankers operating in the North Sea, mainly on long term charters to Equinor. The vessels are Eagle Blane, Eagle Balder, Eagle Bergen, and Eagle Barents. Shuttle tankers are used for the offloading and transporting oil from offshore oil installations.The majority partner in the owning companies will remain major Malaysian tanker owner AET, part of the MISC/Petronas Group. "The vessels are operated by OSM Maritime. Sellers are ADS Shipping Limited.

Over the last year we have seen an upswing in floating production and storage systems ordering after many years of low activity. According to our colleagues at World Energy Reports, “The global oil and natural gas markets are contending with rebounding energy demand on top of supply disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a result, activity and business sentiment in the floating production sector has seldom been stronger.”  This increased activity in the floating production…

The global oil and natural gas markets are contending with rebounding energy demand on top of supply disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As a result, activity and business sentiment in the floating production sector have seldom been stronger. Brent crude has been trading above $100 over the past three months, generating record profits for E&P operators -- providing an incentive to increase capital expenditures on new development projects.Several FPSO projects have moved into the near-term contract queue…

In the months and years before the Covid-19 pandemic, the world was getting used to the idea of reducing its reliance on oil with more focus on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Consequently, shipyards and shipowners responded to the shift by building new or recommissioning existing LNG carriers and storage vessels.However, reducing dependence on Russian oil and gas from much of the world market – where it was the second biggest exporter of the product – has instigated a greater scramble…

Shane Guidry transformed Harvey Gulf from an inland and offshore towing vessel operator to a provider of offshore vessel services in the Gulf of Mexico and international oil and gas markets. Innovation initiatives he has spearheaded include, among others, leading the company to become the United States’ first owner and operator of liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered offshore support vessels, as well positioning the firm as the first LNG bunkering facility operator in the U.S.

St. Louis-based coatings specialist Carboline is celebrating its 75th year in business in 2022. From humble beginnings in 1947, Carboline has grown into a global organization that has launched more than 500 products, with more than seven research facilities, 20 manufacturing facilities and hundreds of warehouses. Still, the company has remained laser-focused on quality, innovation and top-notch service.“Our offering to the maritime market is very unique,” said Brad Treuting, Carboline’s director of sales for marine and offshore in the U.S. Gulf and East Coast.

Europe last month remained the top destination for shipments of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to Refinitiv data, outpacing exports to Asia for the second month in a row.About two-thirds of U.S. LNG volumes went to Europe last month, compared to around 61% in December when sky-high European prices and demand drove U.S. LNG exports to a record, Refinitiv data showed.In both months, a lack of supply drove demand and led to cargoes being re-routed from other destinations.

President Joe Biden said U.S. actions to eliminate supply-chain snarls have staved off a pre-Christmas crisis, ahead of a meeting with U.S. officials and private-sector companies, including FedEx, on Wednesday.Biden created a task force in June to address high prices and shortages of consumer goods and crucial components, thanks to pandemic-related labor and demand issues.After pushing for round-the-clock port operations, new transport rules and enlisting the help of big retailers including Walmart Inc.

Gazprom said on Friday it had finished construction of the Nord Stream 2 subsea pipeline to Germany, completing Moscow's project to increase its gas export capability and bypass Ukraine, but flows have yet to be cleared by regulators.The much-politicized pipeline will double Russia's gas exporting capacity to Europe via the Baltic Sea and will allow Moscow to circumvent its political foe Ukraine as a major route for its lucrative gas exports to Europe."The head of the management board…

While 2020 proved to be a challenging year for offshore oil and gas markets, the same cannot be said about offshore renewables, which saw substantial growth."It is expected that a number of offshore support vessels (“OSVs”) and crew boats will be redeployed from the offshore oil and gas sector to service the offshore wind industry and that existing offshore wind installation vessels will be upgraded as turbines continue to scale up."Offshore renewable projects achieved an estimated record project sanctioning of US$56bn…

As the traditional offshore oil and gas markets continue to struggle, the renewable offshore wind market is hot and getting hotter.As the cumulative maritime, offshore, port and logistics marketplace gears up for offshore wind energy on a huge scale, World Energy Reports (WER), in its report “2021 The Year When Offshore Wind Takes Off in the United States,” shows the anticipated growth trajectory. Service Operations Vessels (SOVs), which can commission and/or maintain turbines…

Oslo-listed Offshore Heavy Transport has said it has recently experienced an uptick in demand for the transportation of offshore wind equipment to China."OHT’s fleet of semi-submersible heavy transportation vessels have been busy transporting offshore wind equipment to China, supporting the huge surge in development of offshore wind farms in the fast-growing market. This followed OHT’s largest transportation project to date, which saw three of OHT’s transport vessels engaged in offshore wind foundation transportation from the UAE to Scotland for the majority of 2020…

Fourteen U.S. states including Louisiana and Wyoming filed suits on Wednesday against President Joe Biden's administration to challenge his pause on new oil and gas leasing on federal lands and waters.The legal actions, which seek to restore regular federal drilling auctions, come a day before the administration is set to launch a review of the oil and gas leasing program.Biden, a Democrat, in January signed an executive order putting on hold new leasing pending that review. During his election campaign…

Mako Industries signed an agreement with C-Innovation to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 on its offshore construction vessels, beginning with the 168-m Island Venture. Mako uses Puradigm to combat air and surface contaminants safely in populated environments 24/7, and it has capabilities for managing projects for existing facilities and new construction, with service recently made available for the oil and gas, healthcare, industrial, commercial and higher education markets.Click HERE to read related story on Mako Industries“We are pleased to have selected Mako’s Covid Mitigation system…

Norway-based operator of offshore support and construction vessels Solstad Offshore has secured a contract for its Normand Cutter vessel with Global Marine Group ("GMG").The construction support vessel is already on a contract with GMG, and the new contract will start in March 2021, in direct continuation of the current charter.Under the new contract, the firm duration is 120 days plus 80 days options. In addition, GMG has the option to extend the contract for up to 200 days in 2022…