Oslo: In a move to reduce operating costs Flex LNG has told Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries to postpone the delivery of its two LNG carriers. Deliveries have been pushed from Q1 2017 to Q1 and Q2 2018.
The delay comes as the Oslo-listed outfit switches to fuel efficient MEGI engines from the original DFDE engines. This also increases the total price of the ships.
Japan’s K Line and American hedge funds were the main shareholders of the company before John Fredriksen’s trading firm Geveran bought out the company last December.
For a typical long haul trade the new and more efficient MEGI engines will have average daily fuel consumption approximately 25% less than a DFDE LNG carrier. This corresponds to a saving of more than 25 tons of fuel per day in HFO equivalents.
Compared to the typical steam LNG carrier, which comprises a significant part of the current fleet, the average reduction in fuel consumption is estimated to be more than double.