The Paris-based energy major Total has completed the acquisition of Engie’s portfolio of LNG assets in a deal valued at US$1.5Bn. Additional payments of up to US$550M could be payable by Total if the oil markets improve in the coming years.
The Engie portfolio includes participating interests in liquefaction plants, notably a 16.6% stake in the soon-to-be-commissioned Cameron LNG project in the US; long-term LNG sales and purchase agreements; an 18-ship LNG tanker fleet; and access to regasification capacities in Europe.
Chairman and chief executive of Total Patrick Pouyanné said, “Acquiring Engie’s LNG business is a real step-change for Total, allowing us to leverage size and flexibility in the fast-growing and increasingly commoditised LNG market.”
“This transaction makes Total the second-largest global LNG player among the majors, with a worldwide market share of 10%. The group will manage an overall LNG portfolio of around 40 mta and a liquefaction capacity portfolio of 23 mta by 2020.”
Inclusion of Engie’s interests will also provide Total with a worldwide LNG trading contracts portfolio of 28 mta by 2020 and ensure a role for the energy major as a key European market supplier, with an LNG regasification capacity of 18 mta.
The Engie fleet of 18 LNG carriers includes two floating storage and regasification units and the 5,000 m3 LNG bunker vessel (LNGBV) Engie Zeebrugge. When delivered in February 2017, Engie Zeebrugge became the world’s first purpose-built LNGBV to enter service.
Total itself has recently taken a significant step in providing LNG bunkering services. In February 2018 the company’s marine fuels division, in tandem with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), ordered an 18,600 m3 LNGBV at the Hudong-Zhonghua yard in China for delivery in 2020.
The vessel will be three times larger than any LNGBV yet built and will be fitted with GTT Mark III membrane cargo tanks. All other LNGBVs constructed and ordered to date feature IMO Type C cylindrical pressure vessel cargo tanks.
The Total/MOL LNGBV newbuilding will be based in Rotterdam on completion. Among the ships it will fuel are the nine LNG-powered ultra-large container ships (ULCSs) recently ordered by CMA CGM. The shipowner signed a 10-year LNG bunker supply agreement with Total in December 2017.
Each of the ULCSs will have 18,600 m3 of bunker tank space built to the GTT Mark III membrane containment system design. The LNG bunker capacity has been sized to enable each ULCS to make a complete Europe/Asia roundtrip on a single tankload.
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Source: Total
