Natural Gas News

Total said its first large liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunker vessel has been launched, following the signature of a long-term charter contract between Total and Mitsui O.S.K Lines (MOL) in February 2018.After delivery in 2020, the bunker vessel will operate in Northern Europe, where it will supply LNG to commercial vessels, including 300,000 tons per year for CMA CGM’s nine ultra-large newbuild containerships in Europe-Asia trade, for a period of at least 10 years.The LNG bunker…

Pieridae Energy moved closer to building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on Canada's East Coast after taking ownership of fields from Royal Dutch Shell which will feed gas into the plant, the company said.The Goldboro LNG terminal would be the first on Canada's East Coast and compete with the growing number of plants on the U.S. Gulf Coast, hoping its shorter distance to Europe and further west will help sell its LNG by cutting shipping costs.Pieridae said in a statement late on Thursday it had closed a C$190 million ($145 million) acquisition of Shell's gas assets in Alberta's Foothills region, giving it most of the gas…

Chinese oil and gas techincal services company Jutal Offshore Oil Services has announced that the company has obtained a slew of new contracts with total value of RMB3.5bn ($490mln).The number of new contracts include large-scale core modules construction of Arctic LNG 2 natural gas project, wind turbine jacket construction, and other offshore engineering and services said the company engaged in the fabrication of oil and gas facilities and oil and gas processing skid equipment business."Site construction of some large-scale construction projects have been gradually commenced…

French multinational naval engineering company Gaztransport & Technigaz (GTT) announced several advances in its technology development process.The American Bureau of Shipping classification society issued the "LNG Cargo Ready" rating to GTT for its latest VLEC (Very Large Ethane Carrier) model, a first in the ethane sector. The rating certifies that the ethane carriers can be used to transport liquefied natural gas without having to convert the ship's tanks.GTT also received approval…

Classification society Lloyd's Register said it has awarded Approval in Principle (AiP) to South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for its 98,000-cubic meter very large ethane carrier (VLEC) design with new cryogenic material High Manganese Austenitic steel (High MnA) and sloshing-free tank, the first VLEC design to use this type of material.DSME’s 98,000 m3 VLEC design is made of DSME-patented ‘Type B’ tank so it can operate with partial loading due to a sloshing-free tank design making vessel operations flexible and efficient…

Kinder Morgan expects to bring the remaining nine units of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Elba Island into service by the first half of next year, Chief Executive Officer Steven Kean said on Wednesday.The first unit of Kinder Morgan's Elba Island facility began producing LNG natural gas for export last month, and is one of several new U.S. projects adding to global supplies.The Houston pipeline operator plans to bring three more into service this year, with another six to start up in the first half of 2020…

Born and raised on the water by entrepreneurial parents, Basjan Faber knew from a young age that his future and fate was in maritime, specifically ship design. Today the CEO leads a vibrant, diverse and fast-growing naval architecture firm that he co-founded with partners in 2007. Headquartered in Amsterdam, C-Job has a unique approach to its business and is expanding its international footprint, as Maritime Reporter & Engineering News discovered when we visited with him in The Netherlands last month.“I have always been inspired by ships…

Japanese manufacturer of transportation equipment and machinery announced that it has obtained Approval in Principle (AiP) for its liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating power plant equipped with its own gas turbine (combined cycle power plant (CCPP) model).This approval was obtained from world-leading ship classification organization DNV GL based on its latest “Gas Power Plant” rules, which were introduced in 2018.An LNG floating power plant is an integrated system in which LNG fuel tanks, LNG regasification unit, power generation equipment and switchyard are all outfitted on the hull.

The US is forecast to drive new-build, liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction capacity additions globally from planned and announced (new-build) projects between 2019 and 2023, contributing around 73% of global new-build LNG liquefaction capacity growth by 2023, according to a report by GlobalData.The US is expected to account for a new-build LNG liquefaction capacity of 156.9 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from planned and announced projects by 2023. Of this, 79 mtpa of capacity comes from planned projects…

America’s first offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) barge has been launched for owner Q-LNG Transport, Mississippi shipbuilder VT Halter Marine announced on Wednesday.The Q-LNG 4000 barge, designed to carry 4,000 cubic meters of LNG, with dimensions of 324’ x 64’ x 32’.6”, will be operated as part of an articulated tug and barge (ATB) unit designed to meet the requirements of American Bureau of Shipbuilding (ABS) and the International Gas Carrier code as an LNG bunkering barge.Its tug, the Q-Ocean Services, is scheduled to launch late October.

Partners involved in a new joint development project (JDP) have set out to design a very large crude carrier (VLCC) that will run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel.Lloyd's Register (LR), China Merchants Energy Shipping Co., Ltd. (CMES), CNOOC Gas and Power Group, Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. (DSIC), and GazTransport and Technigaz SA (GTT) have teamed up to evaluate design options for an LNG-fueled VLCC that uses a prismatic GTT Mark III membrane LNG tank. The scope of the JDP includes reviewing solutions to minimize construction costs for LNG-fueled ships…

AET, a petroleum tanker owner and operator, has named its newest vessels, two of the world's first LNG Dual-Fuel Dynamic Positioning Shuttle Tankers (DPSTs). The vessels, the cleanest DPSTs ever built, will emit 40-48% less carbon than equivalent vessels built in 2008, meeting the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) target of reducing carbon (CO2) emissions by 40% against 2008 baselines by 2030, and halving CO2 emissions by 2050.These LNG Dual-Fuel DPSTs also emit 85% less SOx…

Princess Cruises, the Carnival-owned cruise line, has taken delivery of its fourth Royal-class ship, Sky Princess, at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard in Trieste, Italy.The vessel is the 17th ship Fincantieri has built for Princess, but it is the first to be custom built with the line's MedallionClass technology integrated into its infrastructure.The new unit, at 145,000 gross tons with accommodation on board for 4,610 passengers in 1,830 cabins and 1,411 crew members crew, is built on the basis of the successful sister ship project of Royal Princess…

The global search for lower carbon forms of energy and demand for cost-effective ways to serve power demand in emerging markets and remote locations is driving interest in floating storage and regasification units (FSRU).FSRUs are a faster and more flexible way to import natural gas to power-constrained places, so demand for the units is increasing and the business case for owning them is growing stronger.Their model for supplying energy and transport fuel is historically well proven: they offer faster development timelines and lower initial capital costs compared to onshore regasification…

Deltamarin, which provides ship design, offshore engineering and construction support for the marine and offshore industries worldwide, is strengthening its position as a trusted designer of ro-pax vessels with the latest contract signed with Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC).The contract covers basic and detail design services for Tallink’s new LNG-powered shuttle ferry set to operate between Helsinki in Finland and Tallinn in Estonia.Deltamarin’s commission covers basic and detail design services for the hull, machinery and electrical systems.

Petronas LNG Ltd (PLL), a subsidiary of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas),  has completed its second liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo through its break bulking ship-to-ship (STS) transfer  to two buyers.The LNG break-bulking STS transfer took place in Brunei Bay, Sabah, Malaysia. It is the first for Petronas in expanding its customer base by providing solutions to two buyers, said the national oil and gas company.According to a report in Bernama, the delivering vessel, Seri Bijaksana…

Five South Korean shipping companies - Korea Line, Pan Ocean, SK Shipping, Hyundai LNG Shipping and H-Line Shipping -  could partner up to secure liquefied natural gas transportation services for Qatar’s LNG production capacity expansion project.Qatar Petroleum is expected to put up shipping contracts for at least 40 LNG carriers by the end of the year for its North Field Expansion project, which aims to increase the nation’s LNG production capacity from 77 million tons to 110 million tons per annum starting in 2024.According to Yonhap, the Qatari state-run company will need an additional 60 L

Carnival Corporation announced its Germany-based brand, AIDA Cruises, has partnered with leaders from the maritime and engineering sectors to pilot the world’s first fuel cell system designed to power large passenger vessels. As early as 2021, AIDA Cruises will trial this innovative fuel technology on AIDAnova, becoming the cruise industry’s first brand to trial fuel cells on a large cruise ship.The research project, named “Pa-X-ell2,” is designed to develop fuel cells that are powered by hydrogen derived from methanol…

China National Offshore Oil and Gas Company (CNOOC) is on the hunt for liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers to charter, several industry sources told Reuters, looking to replace ships it had previously hired that are linked to a Chinese company sanctioned by the United States for allegedly transporting Iranian oil.The company, COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian), is one of four Chinese firms on which the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Sept. 25, in what it described as the biggest sanctions taken by the U.S.

Japan's Tokyo Gas rejected delivery of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker on Thursday after the vessel suffered a power outage after entering Tokyo Bay, a company spokesman told Reuters on Friday.The 157,000 cubic metres tanker, Energy Atlantic, loaded a cargo from Corpus Christi LNG Terminal on Sept.

China is at the forefront of the large LNG sector growth and is emerging as the largest source of new LNG demand growth and second largest importer of LNG, VesselsValue revealed.China’s natural gas consumption has surged amid a gasification program and plan that is shifting millions of households and a large number of factories to natural gas from coal, said the report.Greece and Japan dominate in terms of USD value. Greece has recently overtaken Japan as the top owning country…

Norwegian energy company Equinor reached a milestone at its Hammerfest LNG facility on Melkøya Island, “the Snøhvit plant”,  by loading the 1000th cargo of the chilled fuel.The cargo consists of 140 500 cubic metres of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Total sales value of all the LNG cargos since the field came on stream is in the range of NOK 130-150 billion. In addition, we have the value of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate.Arctic Discoverer is the name of the tanker that will carry cargo number 1000 from the Hammerfest LNG plant.

Russia's second-largest natural gas producer Novatek announced that Arcticgas, a joint venture between Novatek and PAO Gazprom Neft, commenced commercial production at the East-Urengoyskoye+North-Esetinskoye field within the Samburgskiy license area.It has an estimated annual production capacity of more than one (1) billion cubic meters of natural gas and 0.2 million tons of gas condensate. The new production capacity is located in close proximity to the Company’s existing infrastructure…