Shipowners tracking Teekay LNG and its Chinese partner’s six Arc7 vessels — and another six apparently caught up in the US-Cosco sanctions row — warn that they may face increasing problems.
One shipowning source close to the LNG carriers said there could be issues with the two 172,600-cbm Arc7 newbuildings that have still to be delivered.
This is because their handovers will entail Teekay and its 50-50 partner China LNG Shipping (CLNGS) making final payments on the vessels to South Korean shipbuilder DSME that could place the them under the scrutiny of US authorities.
Of these, the 172,600-cbm newbuilding Georgiy Ushakov has just completed trials in the Kara Sea and is awaiting delivery.
Sistership newbuilding Yakov Gakkel, which is the last of the 15 Arc7s to be delivered by DSME, has finished gas trials and is waiting to be handed over in South Korea.
The shipowning source said the other four Arc7s, which like their two undelivered sisters have been built for Novatek’s Yamal LNG project, had mostly been discharging at Chinese facilities.
Eikland Energy data service iGIS/LNG shows that three of the ships are en route to Yamal’s Sabetta after offloading at Chinese terminals while a fourth is loaded and heading for Tianjin in China.
The shipowning source added that if there have been problems, then they have not been made public yet.
One charterer following the sanctions situation said: “Everybody who is part of the transaction — they don’t want to deal with those guys [Cosco-related companies] any more.”
Cancelling business
Another explained that for an agent it is easier to cancel a piece of business rather than risk losing their US branch for violating the sanctions.
“Nobody agrees on what the consequences are,” he said. “The lawyers say one thing, but the reality could be something completely different.
“The impact is far bigger than what may have been seen yet.”
The US imposed sanctions on a number of Cosco entities on 25 September for allegedly trading oil with Iran.
One of these, Cosco Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co, holds a 50% stake in CLNGS.
This week, a spokeswoman for Teekay said: “We are still working to resolve this issue and will provide updates on the situation as and when appropriate.”
The impact is far bigger than what may have been seen yet
Charterer
Fresh focus has been thrown on Teekay’s sextet after two LNG carriers — thought to be the 147,200-cbm Dapeng Sun and Dapeng Moon (both built 2008) — were turned away by Australia’s North West Shelf project last week because of their links to Cosco via the ships’ majority owner CLNGS.
In the wake of this, China National Offshore Oil Corp emerged in the market for two cargoes and replacement tonnage for the second half of October for delivery to its Dapeng LNG terminal.
Charterers following the situation said: “Everybody who is part of the transaction — they don’t want to deal with those guys [Cosco-related companies] anymore.”
One explained that for an agent it is easier to cancel a piece of business rather than risk losing their US business for violating the sanctions.
“Nobody agrees on what the consequences are,” he said. “The lawyers say one thing, but the reality could be something completely different.
“The impact is far bigger than what may have been seen yet.”
