Shipowner Avenir LNG expects to wrap up employment for its two 20,000-cbm newbuildings by the end of this quarter.
And the LNG carrier owner is starting to consider what it needs to build to open up new markets.
Company chief executive Peter Mackey said Avenir has had a great deal of interest on the two largest of its six LNG carriers but is being “quite cautious” about how it fixes them.
But he told TradeWinds that both the Avenir Allegiance and Avenir Achievement will “go firm” by the end of the second quarter.
He said both 20,000-cbm vessels are set to be used for projects in which Avenir is providing LNG supply and using its own assets.
SNAM talk
Mackey said broker reports that detailed the newbuilding Avenir Allegiance, which has been launched but not yet delivered, had been fixed to Italy’s SNAM for seven years are incorrect.
He said that while the company has been in discussions with SNAM on its requirement, Avenir has three to four competing projects for that ship.
“Our goal is about supplying LNG to new markets and our ships are the enabler,” Mackey said. “If we see an opportunity for a charter we will look at that.”
| Ship | Size (cbm) | Delivery | Yard | Charterer |
| Avenir Advantage | 7,500 | 2020 | Keppel Nantong | Petronas* |
| Avenir Accolade | 7,500 | 2021 | Keppel Nantong | New Fortress Energy |
| Avenir Aspiration | 7,500 | 2021 | CIMC Sinopacific | Avenir LNG |
| Avenir Allegiance | 20,000 | 2021 | CIMC Sinopacific | Shanghai SIPG Energy Service Co (SSES) |
| Avenir Ascension | 7,500 | 2022 | CIMC Sinopacific | Avenir LNG |
| Avenir Achievement | 20,000 | 2022 | CIMC Sinopacific | New Fortress/Shell |
*Ship is time-chartered from Future Horizons, a 50:50 MISC-Avenir LNG joint venture
Avenir has already taken delivery of the first two of four 7,500-cbm LNG newbuildings.
The first of these is fixed to Petronas with the second to New Fortress Energy.
Sisters cosy up
On Monday, the company pulled off something of a first in the small-scale LNG industry by using the Petronas-chartered Avenir Advantage (built 2020) to bunker its sistership newbuilding Avenir Accolade off Malaysia.
The Avenir Accolade is now heading to Europe to load a cargo of LNG that will deliver to the company’s Higas LNG import terminal on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia in late May to commission the facility.
Mackey said Avenir, which is awaiting its operating permit from the government for the new terminal, will start cool-down operations with trucked nitrogen on Monday and bring in LNG on trucks from France to continue the commissioning later in the week.
The next 7,500-cbm delivery, the newbuilding Avenir Aspiration, has been earmarked to serve this project.
New wave
The final 7,500-cbm newbuilding, the Avenir Ascension, remains open at present in that discussions on it are not as advanced as on other vessels, Mackey said.
He said the conversation now is not about whether Avenir should build more ships but what assets will enable the next wave of growth of the business.
He said this may involve the company buying more trucks, building onshore terminals, regasification barges and ships.
“It is the full range of assets,” he said.
Mackey said 2020 had been “a very bizarre year”. But he said the LNG industry has “come back with a bang in 2021” and is “really roaring into life again".
