Exxon to ask shipyards to bid for tankers

Exxon Mobil Corp., operator of a planned US$11 billion liquefied natural gas project in Papua New Guinea, said it will invite shipyards and vessel owners to take part in a tender for the supply of tankers to transport the fuel. Pre-qualification for the tender and decisions on the required number and size of vessels will be completed by the end of the year, Exxon said today in an

e-mailed copy of an address an executive gave in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
LNG demand is set to increase by more than 4 percent annually to reach almost half a billion metric tons a year by 2030, about 15 percent of global gas demand, Exxon estimates. The 6.3 million-tons-a-year Papua New Guinea project is scheduled to start shipments in late 2013 or 2014.
PNG LNG plans to have a fleet of dedicated ships in order to control the required efficiency in shipping scheduling, it said.