Oil And Gas Boom News

Sky-high European demand drove U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to a record in December, Refinitiv data showed, with winter supply worries set to sustain orders for the fuel.About half of the record U.S. LNG volumes shipped last month went to Europe, up from 37% earlier in 2021, data from Refinitiv and the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed.The gains reflected soaring demand for the home heating and industrial fuel that pushed prices in Europe and Asia to record highs.

There are a number of exciting LNG liquefaction prospects around the world in 2016, both under construction and prospective. The question is whether the demand of East Asia is strong enough to support the economics of an abundant supply of liquefaction opportunities. A report by Visiongain tackles that question, forecasting the feasibility and likelihood of further liquefaction and regasification investment around the world. In doing so, it makes judgement calls about individual projects under construction and in planning; both in terms of the EPC costs and how likely they are to proceed. As more LNG infrastructure is constructed, an increasingly complex global LNG trade is evolving; one that is becoming ever more important to the shape of the global energy industry.

The U.S. commercial maritime industry is enjoying its most robust period in a generation, with a spate of newbuild activities spurred largely by a resurgent energy production market in the U.S. as well as new rules of vessel emissions which has forced owner to invest in new tonnage. For insight and perspective on the market Maritime Reporter & Engineering News visits with Matthew Paxton, who was selected to be the President of the Shipbuilders Council of America in 2007. In this capacity he advocates for a robust and expanding U.S. shipyard industrial base.

Kenya is yet to decide whether to turn east Africa's only oil refinery into an oil storage facility or pay for its upgrade after buying the remaining 50 percent stake from India's Essar Energy, the energy minister said on Friday. Fuel distributors have long complained about the poor quality products from the 50-year-old refinery in the port city of Mombasa and prefer importing cheaper and better imports. Kenya's government has agreed to pay Essar $5 million to buy the Indian firm's half of the refinery after Essar exited the joint venture in November 2013 and abandoned plans for a $1.2 billion upgrade on the advice of consultants who said it was not economically viable.

On the sidelines at Norshipping 2013 in Oslo, Maritime Reporter caught up with Darren Larkins, a 14-year veteran of Ship Constructor, serving the last two years as CEO. The topic: the evolution of the company from that of an engineering tool supplier to a more consultative role, an evolution culminating in the changing of its name from Ship Constructor to SSI. Why the rebrand from Ship Constructor to SSI? Traditionally our core business has focused around ShipConstructor which is an engineering tool focused on the shipbuilding core disciplines.

Barents Observer reports that Murmansk might not achieve its much-desired Special Economic Port Zone goal, after all. Regional authorities in Murmansk have worked hard for the establishment of a free economic port zone, planned as a key element in the region’s bid for new investments and industrial initiatives linked with the upcoming oil and gas boom in the Barents Sea. Now, however, the project is in jeopardy because of key stakeholder Gazprom’s reluctance to engage in the initiative. Gazprom argues that the special status zone will not be in its interests because it does not allow for raw material processing. The company plans for the building of a huge regional LNG plant as part of the Shtokman project…

The building of commercial vessels is very much a boom and bust business. Those of you that have been around for a while remembers the oil and gas boom days of the late 1970's and the bust that followed in the 1980's. Most of the southern shipyards did not actually recover from those dog days until the late 1980's when passenger vessel owners started ordering excursion/dinner boats in significant numbers. Typically these vessels had two or even three enclosed passenger decks with passenger capacities in the 450-600 range. Following on this mini-boom was the emergence of the gaming boat, actually an excursion boat with slot machines.

Despite a downgrading in rating from various credit agencies, Kirby Corporation's recent acquisition of Hollywood Marine is designed to reduce costs, as the inland tank barge operations of both companies are highly complementary. Kirby Corp, the largest U.S. tank barge operator, has agreed to buy Hollywood Marine Inc., an inland tank barge company based in Houston, for approximately $325 million. Kirby, also based in Houston, said the purchase price consists of $90 million in stock, $135 million in cash and the assumption or refinancing of about $100 million of Hollywood debt. "Hollywood's operations are complementary to our core inland tank barge operation and are an excellent fit within Kirby's strategy of growing our core businesses through synergistic acquisitions…

Kirby Corp, the largest U.S. tank barge operator, has agreed to buy Hollywood Marine Inc., an inland tank barge company based in Houston, for approximately $325 million. Kirby, also based in Houston, said the purchase price consists of $90 million in stock, $135 million in cash and the assumption or refinancing of about $100 million of Hollywood debt. "Hollywood's operations are complementary to our core inland tank barge operation and are an excellent fit within Kirby's strategy of growing our core businesses through synergistic acquisitions," Kirby CEO and President J.H. Pyne said. As part of the deal, Kirby said it would name C. Berdon Lawrence…