Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) announced on Thursday plans for a new LNG carrier to be deployed to its Cameron LNG Project in the US.
The vessel will be owned by Diamond LNG Shipping 3 Pte. Ltd. (DLS-3), a ship-owning joint venture formed between MC, Toho LNG Shipping Co., Ltd. (TLS)1, Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. (THG) and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK).
Image courtesy of: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.
In December 2015, MC entered into a Shipbuilding Contract with LNG builder MI LNG Company Limited2 and signed a Heads of Agreement for Time Charter Party with its wholly owned subsidiary, Diamond Gas International Pte. Ltd. for the building of the new vessel as part of its efforts to secure carriers to transport LNG produced at Cameron. MC set up DLS-3 as a wholly owned subsidiary in May 2016 to serve as the vessel’s ship-owning company.
At the time DLS-3 was established, however, there was an understanding among the partners that it would become a four-company joint venture incorporating Toho LNG Shipping, Tohoku Electric and NYK once approved by the relevant authorities and procedures for their equity participation were completed.
MC invests in Cameron LNG through Japan LNG Investments LLC, a joint venture with NYK. LNG produced at Cameron is slated for sale to Toho Gas and Tohoku Electric through MC’s Singapore-based energy business subsidiary, Diamond Gas International. The new vessel, scheduled for delivery in 2019, will be utilized to transport LNG to these two companies.
MC said that it “will continue to strengthen its LNG carrier business through projects of this nature as part of its efforts to help ensure stable energy supplies to Japan and other markets.”
(1). TLS is an LNG carrier owning company wholly owned by Toho Gas Co., Ltd
(2). MI LNG is a joint venture company for designing and marketing LNG carriers established between MHI (51%) and Imabari Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (49%) in April 2013.
(3). MHISB is a shipbuilding company wholly owned by MHI which specializes in building commercial vessels in the Nagasaki district.
(4). MHISB’s newly designed LNG carriers come with improved fuel efficiency through the adoption of continuous cover over apple-shaped tanks and a hybrid propulsion system that combines highly efficient reheating steam turbines and dual-fuel diesel engines.
Source: MC