Double first for US LNG transiting Panama

OREANDA-NEWS. August 01, 2016. The first LNG tanker to transit the expanded Panama Canal is taking a cargo to China.

It will also be the first ever US LNG export to China.

The 160,000m? Maran Gas Apollonia loaded a cargo at the 25mn t/yr Sabine Pass facility on 19 July and entered the Panama Canal on 25 July. It has not declared its final Chinese destination port yet.

The second LNG tanker to transit the Panama Canal is the 138,000m? British Merchant, which is taking a Trinidad cargo to Chile.

The newly expanded Panama Canal reduces the return journey costs for a 146,500m? dual-fuel diesel electric (DFDE) LNG carrier shipped from the US Gulf coast to northeast Asia by about 30?/mn Btu, according to Argus calculations.

The journey time falls by 21 days through the Panama Canal, raising the viability of US LNG cargoes moving to northeast Asia.