Shipowner Avenir LNG has tied up one of its six small-scale LNG carrier newbuildings to Malaysian energy company Petronas.

Malaysian sources following the business said Petronas will charter the first of Avenir’s 7,500-cbm LNG carrier newbuildings for a period of up to three years from its planned delivery in December.

They explain that Petronas has set up a new retail LNG team that is closely involved in LNG bunker sales.

An LNG bunker vessel would allow Petronas, possibly working together with shipping arm MISC, to enter the market and meet the requirements for platform supply vessels and tugs, one explained.

Oslo-listed Avenir said it has no comment to make on the reports.

Bunkering ambition

Speaking in Malaysia this month, Petronas vice president LNG marketing and trading Ahmad Adly Alias gave a hint that it is closing in on an LNG bunker vessel when he said the company is ready to provide commercial LNG bunkering services by 1 January 2020.

He said this is in support of the government’s ambition towards making Malaysia a bunkering hub.

“The LNG share of the bunker market is expected to increase up to 7% by 2030 from less than 3% today,” he told the meeting.

Last year, Petronas undertook its first LNG bunkering operation, supplying product to Babcock Schulte Energy's 7,500-cbm LNG bunker vessel Kairos on its delivery voyage from Hyundai Mipo Dockyard in South Korea to Europe.

The bunkering operation took place at Petronas' Pengerang regasification terminal in Johor.

Small-scale LNG ship specialist Avenir, which is a joint venture between Golar LNG, Hoegh LNG and Stolt-Nielsen, has four 7,500-cbm newbuildings on order — two at Keppel Nantong Shipyard and two at Nantong CIMC Sinopacific Offshore & Engineering.

Further newbuildings

The company also has a pair of 20,000-cbm vessels under construction at the latter Chinese yard.

Last month, Avenir hit the headlines for different reasons after a fire broke out on one of its under-construction LNG newbuildings at Keppel Nantong Shipyard.

The fire broke out during welding work, setting light to the insulation material surrounding one of the vessel’s 3,750-cbm type-C cargo tanks.

Avenir officials said the damage to the vessel is still being assessed.

But TradeWinds understands the ship will be deployed for Avenir’s jointly developed LNG import project in Sardinia, where the company is not due to start up a new receiving terminal until mid-2020, possibly giving time for repairs to be concluded on the vessel.

Avenir holds an 80% stake in the Sardinia terminal project.