London-based Avenir LNG has filled its vacant chief financial officer (CFO) role by promoting from within.
The small-scale LNG carrier specialist, backed by Norway’s Stolt-Nielsen, said Abigail Baltar is the new CFO with immediate effect.
Avenir has been without a CFO since Stephen McCaffrey left in January to take up the same role at Essar Oil in the UK.
He had been in the position since October 2019.
Baltar joined Avenir as head of finance in 2020.
She brings with her over 20 years of financial, investment and corporate finance experience, the last 11 of which have been within the shipping and oil and gas industry.
Baltar will continue to lead the group’s finance team and will play a key role in the executive leadership team, Avenir said.
Chief executive Peter Mackey said: “I am delighted to appoint Abigail as our CFO.”
“She has built a strong track record since she joined Avenir and has been critical to our recent success and growth. Abigail will play a key role within the group as we continue to build the company into the leading global small-scale LNG supplier,” he added.
Baltar was previously at shipowner Lomar Shipping as group financial controller from 2018.
Gas experience at Golar LNG
Before this she had a stint at Associated British Ports, following six years at another Avenir shareholder, Golar LNG, as financial controller.
Last month, Avenir netted a new three-year LNG deal to supply LNG as bunkers to Swedish ferry company Destination Gotland.
Subsidiary Avenir Marine will supply up to 40,000 tonnes per annum of LNG as a fuel to the 1,650-passenger ferries Gotland (built 2019) and Visby (built 2018).
The company said the LNG will be delivered to both vessels by ship-to-ship transfer in Visby, Sweden using the 7,500-cbm LNG bunker vessel (LNGBV) newbuilding Avenir Ascension.
Hoegh LNG is also a backer of Avenir.
