Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd (K Line) has signed a 12-year time charter contract with Petronas LNG Ltd, a subsidiary of Petronas, for two newbuild LNG carriers to transport LNG from Malaysia to China starting in 2022
The contract contains an option to extend the charter for another 12 years.
As a result of the charter, K Line has signed a shipbuilding contract for 79,960-m3 LNG carriers with China’s Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co, part of China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
With an overall length of 239 m and beam of 36.6 m, each of the LNG carriers will be fitted with a WinGD X-DF dual-fuel, low-pressure main engine. Following their delivery in Q2 2022, the two LNG carriers will transport LNG from Malaysia (Bintulu) to Shanghai government-owned Shenergy (Group) Co, China.
The last newbuild LNG carrier to join the K Line fleet was Enshu Maru, built by the KHI Sakaide Shipyard. Under the operation of LNG Marine Transport Ltd, Enshu Maru transports LNG under a charter for Jera between the Freeport LNG project in US and Japan. With an overall length of 293 m and beam of 48.9 m, Enshu Maru has a capacity of 164,700 m3 and a boil-off rate of 0.08% per day.
Based on Quintana Island near Freeport, Texas, the Freeport LNG project began commercial operations in December, producing LNG from its Train 1 under tolling agreements with Japan’s Osaka Gas and Jera. Commercial operations from Train 2 began in January, commencing gas deliveries to BP under its 20-year tolling agreement. Commercial operations from its Train 3 are expected to begin in May.
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