German utility Uniper took delivery of a new LNG tanker in South Korea amid efforts to boost its presence in the burgeoning Asian LNG market, reads the company website.
Service contract for multiple trips
The LNG tanker LNG Rosenrot is now complete and will be delivered to Uniper in South Korea. Uniper will become the ship’s first charterer as part of a transport service contract that covers multiple trips.
The shipbuilders, South Korean company Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (DSME), handed over the approximately 300-m-long and 50-m-wide transport ship for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the joint venture company owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Itochu Corporation. The new LNG ship will join a sister LNG ship currently used by Uniper.
Significant cargo trading in 2020
LNG is a sector that Uniper has identified as a strategic growth area and that has undergone significant expansion in recent years. 225 cargos were traded in 2020, compared to 134 in the previous year.
The Asia-Pacific region in particular has seen strong growth in the LNG trade in recent times: Uniper traded around two-thirds of its volumes of LNG in this region last year.
This second transport contract with MOL has increased the LNG transport capacity available to Uniper and will help the company to grow its presence in the LNG sector, while also increasing the flexibility of its LNG portfolio.
LNG Rosenrot and other vessels of this type can transport around 180,000 m3 of LNG at speeds of up to 19.5 knots. The energy onboard is enough to supply approximately 65,000 single-family homes for a year.
LNG in energy supply
Uniper board member and Chief Commercial Officer, Niek den Hollander,”LNG is helping to diversify gas sources around the world and strengthen both competition and security of supply — especially in European markets and in Germany, where reliance on certain supply regions is the subject of much discussion.”
“Without LNG, there would be no global gas market. Liquefied natural gas now plays an important role in the energy supply, as well as in industry, the heating market and transport. As the production of natural gas in Europe continues to undergo a significant decline, the demand for imported natural gas will increase considerably in the coming years,” he added.
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Source: Uniper
