ORLEN expands with two new LNG carriers

“The most recent additions to the ORLEN Group’s fleet of gasoline carriers are essential for the advancing of Poland’s power independence and increasing our footprint within the international LNG market. Our dedication to diversifying gasoline imports, primarily via LNG provides, has been a convincing success. This strategic strategy has facilitated our shift away from Russian gasoline, permitting us to climate the challenges of the European power disaster. All through this era, we’ve got honed capabilities that may underpin our continued efforts to diversify gasoline procurement sources, assembly the wants of our clients in Poland and the broader area. Pure gasoline, as a strategic useful resource, performs a vital function in serving households and supporting the chemical trade, however it additionally stays a linchpin for an environment friendly and safe power transition. Our personal fleet of LNG vessels has expanded the ORLEN Group’s logistical capability, strengthening the reliability of provides whereas decreasing transport prices,” stated Daniel Obajtek, CEO and President of the Administration Board of ORLEN.

The brand new gasoline carriers have been christened with significant names: Saint Barbara pays homage to the patron saint of miners, oil and gasoline employees, whereas Ignacy Lukasiewicz honours the pioneering determine on the planet oil trade, an illustrious inventor, industrialist, and advocate for Poland’s independence. Crafted by South Korea’s Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, the vessels will function beneath a long-term constitution settlement with shipowner Knutsen OAS Delivery.

As soon as built-in into the fleet, the gasoline carriers will serve the twin goal of accommodating each long-term contracts and spot contracts, primarily based on the Free-On-Board (FOB) supply phrases, whereby the ORLEN Group, as the client, will likely be liable for gathering and transporting the cargoes.

The ORLEN Group’s built-to-order fleet will play a pivotal function within the environment friendly dealing with of LNG shipments destined for Poland. The outbreak of the battle in Ukraine, coupled with the halt in gasoline provides to Europe from the japanese path, has led to a considerable surge in demand for LNG inside the area. Within the first half of 2022, imports of liquefied pure gasoline into the EU reached 54.6 billion m3, a major improve from 34.3 billion m3 in the identical interval of 2021. This upward development has continued into 2023, witnessing LNG deliveries in a complete quantity of 61.3 billion m3 within the first half of this 12 months – a 79% improve in contrast with the identical interval of 2021. The mounting demand for LNG has resulted in lowered availability of gasoline carriers out there, pushing up freight prices. Towards this backdrop, entities just like the ORLEN Group, outfitted with their very own devoted transport services, have been in a position to seize a aggressive edge.

Finally, the full depend of vessels within the ORLEN Group’s fleet will likely be dropped at eight. Every vessel can have a capability of roughly 70 000 t of LNG, which equates to roughly 100 million m3 of pure gasoline in gaseous state. When it comes to measurement, the gasoline carriers have been designed to navigate just about any LNG terminal throughout the globe. Moreover, all of the vessels have been outfitted with options bettering their power effectivity and mitigating the environmental impression. These embody built-in administration of electrical energy consumption and a reliquefaction system to get better LNG that naturally evaporates throughout transport.

When it comes to ongoing operations, two ships of the ORLEN Group’s fleet have already been deployed this 12 months: Lech Kaczynski and Grazyna Gesicka, which delivered their inaugural LNG shipments to Poland in March and June, respectively. The upcoming cargo – by Grazyna Gesicka – is predicted to reach in late October or early November this 12 months.

Along with increasing its devoted fleet, the ORLEN Group can be enhancing its capability to obtain liquefied gasoline at home terminals. An August settlement with GAZ-SYSTEM marked a major step, securing regasification capability on the forthcoming Floating Storage Regasification Unit (FSRU), set to be positioned within the Gulf of Gdansk. The infrastructure growth is predicted to spice up the annual depend of LNG deliveries obtained by the ORLEN Group by as much as 58.

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