Import Infrastructure News

With a number of evolving maritime business opportunities intermixed with geo-political headwinds, VSM, which represents the interests of the German maritime industry as a whole, launched a campaign aimed at the federal government and the EU to understand and support the tremendous growth potential for all things maritime in Germany.According to a press notice from VSM, the tasks are enormous: economical and clean merchant ships, plants and ships for offshore renewable energy…

Greece has cut Russian gas imports by more than half this year thanks to increased deliveries from other producers to its sole liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Athens, the country's gas grid operator said on Thursday.Greece has relied on Russia for about 40% of its gas needs for years but it has ramped up LNG purchases from other countries in line with a European Union plan to cut dependence on Russian energy. It has been receiving Russian gas via the Turkstream pipeline which also delivers to Hungary via Serbia.Its LNG facility on the Revithoussa islet…

Vopak, a Dutch natural gas infrastructure and transportation company operating in the Netherlands and Germany, has teamed up with the tank storage firm Gasunie to jointly develop future terminal infrastructure projects for hydrogen import into Northwest Europe via Dutch and German ports. The two companies have collaborated in the Gate LNG terminal in the Port of Rotterdam that came into operation in 2011."Alongside domestic production of hydrogen, large-scale import of green hydrogen will become essential for reaching the European Green Deal and the Fit for 55 targets.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) technologies, such as floating LNG (FLNG) innovations, driven by its shorter construction lead times and lower capital investment costs, are increasingly becoming a viable option for increased gas deployments.FLNG helps mitigate siting constraints that shore-based infrastructure may face, pointed out the Kansas City-based engineering firm Black & Veatch.The provider of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for energy also stressed on the continued need for a balanced power generation portfolio as well as the need to address energy security and environmental concerns are driving rapid growth in the gas industry.To support this…

The floating LNG services provider Höegh LNG Holdings announced that it has entered into a time charter party with Australian utility company AGL Shipping Pty for the provision of a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to facilitate its proposed Gas Import Jetty project at Crib Point, Victoria, Australia.The project is targeting start up in 2020 – 2021, said a press note.The charter is for a period of 10 years and remains conditional on the board of directors of AGL Shipping's parent company AGL Energy Ltd. taking a final investment decision in relation to the project and receipt by the charterer of key environmental project…

A vessel that arrived in Bangladesh in April to offload its maiden cargo of liquefied natural gas and moor permanently as an import terminal should begin operations "within a week" after bad weather hampered its start-up, an official said on Thursday.The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) will allow Bangladesh to import LNG for the first time as its domestic gas production falls and will boost several power projects in a nation where 30 percent go without electricity.Since its arrival at Moheshkhali…

BW LPG Limited and Global United Shipping India Private Limited, have agreed to establish a joint venture in India in which the parties will own 50% each. The purpose of the new joint venture, named BW Global United LPG India Private Limited, is to own and operate Gas Carriers for the transportation of LPG within Indian waters. As part of the establishment, BW LPG will sell two of its vessels, BW Boss and BW Energy, to the joint venture company and to that end BW LPG has entered into binding vessel sales contracts. “The joint venture will allow BW LPG to create a strong base in India which is one of the world's largest LPG import markets. LPG growth in India is driven primarily by increased retail demand and strong support for LPG consumption from the government of India.

According to an Interfax analysis of customs data, China used just over half its LNG regasification capacity in 2014, as tariff hikes and cheaper competing fuels hit gas demand growth. Slow downstream demand, driven by rising natural gas prices and sluggish GDP growth, coupled with rising pipeline imports and plunging prices of alternative fuels, have halved China's LNG consumption growth, said industry sources. While Chinese LNG imports in 2014 were up 10.3 percent from 2013, the growth was lower than the 20.3 percent and 22.7 percent registered in 2012 and 2013, Platts data showed. Slower demand growth has also kept import infrastructure…

Britain said on Wednesday there was scope for more UK refining capacity to close without undermining energy security but set up a new task force to help the struggling sector fend off overseas competition. The government's long-awaited review of Britain's refining and fuel imports sector comes a week after Murphy Oil said it could be forced to close its loss-making Milford Haven plant in Wales after talks with a potential buyer collapsed. In a 44-page report, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said environmental regulation along with the U.S. shale boom and the rise of new refiners in Asia made it harder for Britain's seven refineries to compete.

In the key Asian growth markets of Korea and China, the competition is on for incremental winter LNG cargos, with the former showing growth related to fuel substitution (lower nuclear capacity) and seasonal use, while the latter will come from new import infrastructure opening up new markets, according to Pira Energy Group's latest weekly Natural Gas Power and Coal Market Recap. Demand indicators from October show no decrease in the pace of incremental buying by Korea, even without the colder than normal weather factor.

A strong continuation in the recovery of LNG expenditure is underway worldwide, driven by a growing demand for natural gas. The new eighth edition of Douglas-Westwood’s (DW) World LNG Market Forecast expects that global capital expenditure (Capex) will total nearly $228B during the 2013-2017 period. The surge includes capital expenditure on base-load onshore and offshore fixed LNG liquefaction, LNG carriers and LNG regasification, via both onshore and offshore fixed import terminals.

In a review of Finnish energy policies launched, the International Energy Agency praised Finland for its commitment to a sustainable energy future. With its energy-intensive industries and its cold climate, Finland’s energy consumption per capita is the highest in the IEA. Yet the IEA noted that Finland’s energy policy framework was broad and coherent, covering all sectors and paving the way for a more sustainable energy system in the longer term. “Finland is highly dependent on imported fossil fuels, making security of supply a priority,” IEA Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven said as she presented the report in Helsinki. The report…

China has made concrete progress in shipbuilding. In September 2007, the first LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) ship made by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) will be delivered, reported the state-run Xinhua News Agency on February 19, 2007. The LNG ship has a capacity of around 47,199 cubic meter and is currently under-construction by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, an arm of CSSC, the topmost shipping group in China and third largest in the world. The technology of LNG shipbuilding is the most sophisticated in the world and will place the Chinese shipbuilding industry in a more profitable position as against its competitors. Only Japan, Republic of Korea, and some European countries have obtained the technologies to make such kind of ocean liners.