LNG Shipping Market in Recovery Stage: Flex LNG
Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen-owned LNG shipper Flex LNG believes that the LNG market is in the early stages of a multi-year recovery.According to a report by Flex LNG, the market for seaborne transportation of LNG has improved significantly during the third quarter with the primary driver being the nearly 50 per cent year on year growth in imports to China.Additionally there is high demand growth in other more mature markets such as South Korea and Taiwan.Flex LNG pointed out that Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimate demand growth of approximately 8.5% in 2018, adding 24MMtpa to the global market which will reach a total…
Biggest LNG Vessel Sails to Turkey
The world’s biggest specialized vessel to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) is scheduled to be operational in November to contribute to Turkey's energy supply security, Bloomberg reported. The MOL FSRU Challenger, as long as the Eiffel Tower, is expected to arrive from South Korea this month and start by year-end. Last winter, a cold snap gripped the whole region, including Iran, where Turkey gets some of its gas from. That meant the nation couldn’t get hold of enough fuel to meet its booming gas demand and the grid asked private power plants to reduce fuel demand by as much as 90 percent. A first floating storage and regasification unit, the Neptune, arrived in December to complement two onshore terminals at Aliağa and Marmara Ereğlisi.
Qatar to Boost LNG Production by 30% Amid Arab Dispute
State-owned Qatar Petroleum said Tuesday it aims to raise Qatar’s LNG production from 77 million to 100 million tons per year. The new additional volumes will be secured by doubling the size of the new gas project in the southern sector of the North Field, which Qatar Petroleum had announced last April. This will increase the North Field’s production of natural gas, condensate and other associated products by one million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The announcement was made by Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the President & CEO of Qatar Petroleum, who said: “Last April, we announced our intention to develop a new gas project in the southern sector of the North Field that can be targeted for export.
Tanker Market: Electrifying Demand
Twenty years, the investment timeline to consider when ordering a new tanker, is a long time in any industry, not least in the rapidly evolving energy markets and the drive for cleaner fuels, says Gibson tanker report. Whilst, the collapse in oil prices in recent years may have taken the shine off many cleaner sources of energy (at least from a cost perspective) other pressures, mainly environmental, are likely to continue to influence energy consumption. In our industry, changes to bunker specifications will influence the type of fuels consumed, whilst more economical designs will see the average fuel consumed per ship fall. The same is true across many sectors, not least automotive where continuous gains in battery technology is seeing electric cars becoming increasingly feasible.
Floating Windmills in Japan Help Wind Down Nuclear Power
Japan is preparing to bolt turbines onto barges and build the world’s largest commercial power plant using floating windmills, tackling the engineering challenges of an unproven technology to cut its reliance on atomic energy. Marubeni Corp., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. are among developers erecting a 16-megawatt pilot plant off the coast of Fukushima, site of the nuclear accident which pushed the government to pursue cleaner energy. The project may be expanded to 1,000 megawatts, the trade ministry said, larger than any wind farm fixed to the seabed or on land. “Japan is surrounded by deep oceans, and this poses challenges to offshore wind turbines attached to the bottom of the sea…
Wind Power Seen Surging as Custom Barges Cut Cost
Offshore wind-power producers from Dong Energy A/S to RWE AG are building custom ships at record rates to reduce the cost of the technology which is three times as pricey as electricity from coal plants. As many as 20 vessels, some with movable legs which reach the seafloor, will come onto the market in the next few years, reducing chartering costs of as much as 200,000 euros ($261,000) a day, said Marc Seidel, an offshore engineer at Suzlon Energy Ltd., which supplies turbines to Germany’s RWE. A lack of specialized installation ships has forced companies to hire barges designed for oil exploration, holding up work at projects such as EON AG’s Robin Rigg wind farm off Scotland’s western coast.
German Nuclear Power Extension Threatens Offshore Wind Funding
According to a September 6 report from Bloomberg, the German government’s plan to extend the phase-out of nuclear power risks hampering investment in offshore wind turbines. Utilities including E.ON AG and RWE AG may cut their investment in the industry to compensate for a tax of $3.9b a year they will be charged, said an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The levy on nuclear-plant operators is meant to support renewable energy. (Source: Bloomberg)
