Page 10 - AsianOil Week 18 2022

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CNOOC leads China’s rush

of orders for LNG tankers

PIPELINES & JAPAN’S NYK has ordered six new 170,000 annual natural gas imports.
TRANSPORT cubic metre gas carriers from CSSC CNOOC said that the fleet forms just a part of
Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding for charter to its LNG strategy, which also includes natural gas
China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC). production, supply, storage and sales capabilities.
This comes as China continues to raise its LNG Designed by Hudong-Zhonghua, the new
export capabilities. vessels will be 980 feet (299 metres) in length
The order involves a way partnership between with a 152-foot (46m) beam. They will be outfit-
CNOOC, which will be the charterer for the six ted with the newest designs of dual-fuel engines
new vessels, NYK and China Merchants Group. to operate at a speed of 19.5 knots while also
The order is being valued at $1.26bn, making reducing fuel consumption. They will also be
it the largest yet in China for LNG carriers, the equipped with GTT’s latest super containment
Maritime Executive reported. system.
CNOOC has so far in 2022 signed a total of China State Shipbuilding Corp. said that it
12 newbuild contracts, valued at nearly $2.5bn, has now a record total of 17 new LNG carrier
which will more than double the company’s fleet contracts since the start of 2022.
of gas carriers. Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines ordered four large
The order is in addition to six LNG carriers LNG carriers that will be chartered to QatarEn-
ordered by CNOOC in January 2022 for con- ergy as part of Qatar’s planned expansion of its
struction at the same shipyard. LNG production.
The 12 vessels, due for delivery between 2024 The order for the 17 LNG carriers places
and 2027, will increase the company’s current CSSC and China in the lead, surpassing the
fleet of 10 LNG carriers as it seeks to become South Korean shipbuilders that have tradition-
China’s largest LNG importer and the sec- ally dominated the LNG carrier category.
ond-largest in the world. The South Korean shipbuilders, however, also
CNOOC’s currently imports nearly signed a large deal with Qatar in 2020 reserving
79mn tonnes per year (tpy) of LNG, construction spots for the country’s LNG con-
accounting for about two-thirds of China’s struction programme. ™

Mitsui writes down Russian LNG investments

INVESTMENT JAPAN’S Mitsui & Co. said this week that it had Indeed, Mitsui said that while it wants to
written down the value of its investments in two remain involved in Sakhalin-2, the company’s
Russian LNG projects by a combined JPY80.6bn position on Arctic LNG 2 could yet change.
($617mn). The company reduced the value of its “There is a good chance that the situation in
12.5% stake in the Sakhalin-2 oil and LNG pro- Arctic 2 will change, but that is not the case at this
ject by JPY44.1bn ($338mn) and cut the value of stage,” said Mitsui’s CEO, Kenichi Hori. “If that
its investments in the under-construction Arctic occurs, we’ll make an announcement after eval-
LNG 2 project by JPY36.4bn ($279mn). uating the situation and confirming what needs
Mitsui has indicated Mitsui also reported a JPY20.9bn ($160mn) to be confirmed among the partners.”
that its position on loss in its LNG business in connection with its Hori’s comments were reported by Japa-
Arctic LNG 2 could investments in Russia. The figure includes provi- nese media within days of France’s TotalEn-
change in the future. sions against potential losses on loan guarantees ergies, another investor in Arctic LNG 2,
the company has made. saying it was difficult to see how the project
The war in Ukraine and the exit of various could now be completed in light of sanctions
international oil companies (IOCs) from their and the fact that it would not direct any more
investments in Russia have brought the partic- funds to it.
ipation of other companies, including Japanese Separately, another Japanese company,
ones, into sharp focus. The Japanese government Marubeni, reported a write-down related to its
has insisted that Japanese companies will con- stake in Sakhalin-1 this week. The company said
tinue to participate in Russian projects – nota- it had cut its exposure to Russia by JPY12.6bn
bly Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2 – as they seek ($96.5mn) and that even though it wanted to
to retain access to energy imports. But they are withdraw from the project owing to the war in
increasingly coming under pressure, including Ukraine, it would stay in line with Japanese gov-
financial pressure. ernment policy.™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 18 06•May•2022