Malaysian national oil company (NOC) Petronas is adding three new liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers to its global fleet. The ships will primarily be used to ship LNG from Canada.
Petronas said yesterday that it has signed a Time Charter Party (TCP) for three newbuild 174,000 cubic metres LNG vessels with shipowner, Hyundai LNG Shipping (HLS). The deal with HLS was awarded via an international tender exercise to support Petronas’ growing global LNG business portfolio.
As part of the agreement, HLS had signed shipbuilding contracts with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for the construction of the three vessels. Upon completion, these vessels would be amongst the most energy efficient LNG carriers ever built, with shaft generators powered by LNG, Petronas said in a statement. These ships are also installed with air lubrication systems that reduce hull resistance and are designed with an optimised hull design that reduces aerodynamic drag at sea.
The eco-friendly tankers will be fitted with the Integrated Smart Ship Solution to enhance the performance monitoring process. Collectively, these features will give the identical vessels the lowest carbon emission footprint in their class, further attesting to Petronas’ commitment to deliver cleaner energy solutions in a responsible manner, claims the NOC.
The newbuild ships are expected to be delivered from the second quarter of 2024 on a staggered basis and will primarily be used to lift cargoes from LNG Canada.
With these vessels, Petronas has expanded its global LNG fleet from 24 to 27 covering small, medium and large sized vessels. The multi-sized fleet has enabled the company to reliably deliver LNG to over 25 countries from its global portfolio of supply located in Malaysia, Australia, Egypt and Canada by 2024. To date, Petronas has delivered over 11,500 LNG cargoes across the world.
