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Yamal LNG’s entire carrier fleet now in service
PIPELINES & TRANSPORT
YAMAL LNG’s 15-strong fleet of Arc7-class icebreaking LNG carriers are now all in service, with its final vessel having started operations last week.
The Yakov Gakkel loaded its first LNG cargo at the Russian port of Sabetta on December 11 and is bound for China, the Yamal LNG operat- ing company said in a statement. It marks Yamal LNG’s 354th cargo of super-cooled gas since the export plant’s launch in December 2017.
The project, situated on Russia’s northern Yamal Peninsula, is operated by Russia’s Novatek in partnership with France’s Total and China’s CNPC and Silk Road Fund.
The Arc7 carriers are capable of breaking through Russia’s thick Arctic ice without escorts, lowering the cost of round-year shipments. In its statement, Yamal LNG said that having all 15 ves- sels in service created “additional opportunities from 2020 for optimising the project’s logistics both westbound and eastbound, including the more extensive use of the Northern Sea Route.”
The Yakov Gakkel was built at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Okpo shipyard in South Korea. It is one of six vessels in the fleet owned by a joint venture between
US-listed Teekay LNG and China’s Cosco Dalian. The latter was recently targeted by US sanctions for delivering Iranian crude to China. But its joint venture with Teekay LNG was given a waiver so Yamal LNG’s operations could continue.
Monaco-based Dynagas owns another five carriers in Yamal LNG’s fleet, while Japan’s MOL operates three and Russia’s Sovcomflot the remaining one. Each vessel can store up to 170,000 cubic metres of LNG.
Yamal LNG has contributed to a boom in global LNG supplies over the past two years, with its first three 5.5mn tonne per year (tpy) trains reaching their nameplate capacity within a year of its start-up. Their output has since risen further, totalling 16.5mn tonnes in the first 11 months of this year and on track to reach 18mn tonnes by year-end, according to Yamal LNG.
A fourth, 900,000 tpy train is also due to be commissioned in early 2020, showcasing Novatek’s patented Arctic Cascade liquefaction technology. The company’s ultimate goal is to deploy Arctic Cascade at all future LNG pro- jects, replacing the foreign technology it cur- rently uses.™
Gunvor solidifies role as largest independent LNG trader
PERFORMANCE
SWISS-HEADQUARTERED commodity trader Gunvor Group said this week that it had delivered 16mn tonnes of LNG this year, mark- ing an increase of 45% on 2018. The figures illus- trate that the company is cementing its role as the world’s largest independent trader of LNG.
Gunvor overtook larger rivals Trafigura and Vitol Group last year, when its delivered volumes rose 60% year on year. And this year’s increase in volumes delivered comes despite the fact that spot prices for LNG have fallen this year as new supply flooded onto the global market while demand growth was sluggish.
“Despite the near-term bearish sentiment in the LNG and natural gas markets, Gunvor remains positive on growth of natural gas within the energy mix for the future,” Gunvor’s co-head of LNG trading, Kalpesh Patel, said in a Decem- ber 18 statement. “While more than 60% of Gunvor’s volumes delivered in 2018 were under mid- to long-term contracts, that percentage will also increase, as we are progressing on a num- ber of long-term initiatives around the world, including expanding our portfolio of vessels secured on a long-term charter.”
Gunvor also noted that it remained the largest charterer of LNG vessels in 2019, adding it had a growing long-term freight book. The trader conducted more than 50 charters in 2019 and currently has 15 LNG vessels under time char- ter. This also marks an increase on 2018, when Gunvor concluded more than 25 spot to mul- ti-voyage fixtures.
The company said its largest market was India, with 75 cargoes delivered in 2019 as the country sought to take advantage of lower spot prices.
Gunvor’s increased focus on LNG comes after the company embarked on an overhaul of its operations over the past three years. Other commodity traders are also stepping up LNG activity, however.
Trafigura said last week that its delivered vol- umes rose by 27% to 12.6mn tonnes in the finan- cial year ending on September 30. Vitol has not yet disclosed its 2019 LNG volumes. Glencore said earlier this month that its transacted LNG volumes had expanded about 83% to 11mn tonnes in 2019, but did not specify whether traded volumes meant delivered LNG.™
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