PGNiG Supply & Trading (PST), part of the PGNiG Group, awarded a charter contract for more LNG carriers. Four new vessels, built for the PGNiG Group, will be placed in service in 2025.
Two of the vessels will be delivered by Norwegian Knutsen Group companies, and the other two by affiliates of Maran Gas Maritime, the LNG arm of Angelicoussis Group.
Each of the new vessels will have capacity of about 174,000 cu m to carry cargoes equivalent to about 100 million cu m of regasified LNG.
The vessels are contracted on an exclusive basis for a period of 10 years, with an extension option. The shipowner will be responsible for delivering, manning, and maintaining technical condition. Commercial control will lie with PST.
With the additions, PGNiG Group’s new LNG fleet will consist of eight vessels. The first two new vessels—Lech Kaczyński and Grażyna Gęsicka—will begin operations in 2023.
Fleet readiness
Hull construction of Lech Kaczyński in a dry dock is nearing completion and most vessel sections have been fabricated and put together. Reinforcing, metalwork, and outfitting have begun. In March, the propellers as well as the main and auxiliary engines were installed.
Hull making for Grażyna Gęsicka also has begun. Outfitting of individual blocks, which will later be assembled in a dry dock, is under way. The main and auxiliary engines have been tested.
“The volume of regasified LNG contracted by PGNiG from the United States is currently about 9 billion cu m/year, including as much as 7 bcm under FOB contracts, where PGNiG is responsible for collecting, transporting, and unloading LNG cargoes at the destination port. Under the charter contracts, we will be able to efficiently supply liquefied natural gas to the Polish market, but also send the LNG carriers to any LNG terminal in the world,” said Paweł Majewski, president of the PGNiG Management Board.
PGNiG also has chartered three already built LNG carriers, each with a capacity of about 160,000 cu m, equivalent to about 80-90 million cu m of regasified LNG. Two of these vessels will be delivered to the company by end first-half 2022, while the third is to be made available in this year’s second half.