Endesa will charter the LNG carrier “Adriano Knutsen” from Knutsen OAS Shipping for a period starting next summer. The vessel is currently being outfitted at the Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) shipyard in South Korea and will be registered under the Special Registry of the Canary Islands and enrolled in the naval registry of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Endesa states that this is the first time it has opted for a long-term time charter contract for the import transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as it had previously purchased under CIF conditions. In 2014, Endesa closed the purchase of two million cubic meters of natural gas annually for the next twenty years from the project that Cheniere Energy has in Corpus Christi, Texas (USA).

In early 2018, Knutsen commissioned a first LNG carrier for its transport, which will initially be chartered for seven years, with the possibility of extending for another seven. This will partially cover the maritime transportation needs for natural gas in the coming years for both Endesa and its Italian parent company Enel. The charter contract is valued at around 25 million dollars annually, and the construction cost of the LNG carrier is approximately 185 million dollars.

The “Adriano Knutsen” is a third-generation LNG carrier, measuring 300 m in length, 48 m in width, and capable of transporting 180,000 cubic meters, equipped with a total reliquefaction system onboard for the reuse of evaporated gas (boil-off gas).

Its construction is well advanced, and sea and load tests prior to delivery will begin next April, so, according to forecasts, the vessel “Adriano Knutsen” will be ready to operate starting in July. Each year, this LNG carrier will be able to make up to twelve transatlantic trips or six transpacific trips from the Corpus Christi terminal. The contractual speed will be 19.5 knots.

A second vessel from the same project, named “Trajano Knutsen,” will follow the “Adriano Knutsen,” and its construction has just begun at the same shipyard, with an expected delivery in mid-2020.

Photo: IHI