LNG

Chart Industries, the US LNG equipment-maker, said orders in the third quarter rose 7.4 percent from the previous three months as LNG fuel infrastructure demand filled a gap left by a pause in orders from large LNG ventures on the Gulf Coast.

Third-quarter net income rose to $21.7 million compared with $18.80M in the same quarter of 2019.

Orders amounted to $262.7M in the three months, particularly in the Distribution and Storage division for hydrogen equipment, water treatment, LNG regas, ISO containers and repair, service and leasing.

The orders were lower than the $338M achieved in the same three months of 2019, though took the backlog to $684.9M, with record levels seen in both the Distribution & Storage Eastern Hemisphere and Distribution & Storage Western Hemisphere units.

“Orders continued to be very strong for LNG infrastructure related equipment, including the highest trailer order quarter since the third quarter of 2018, continued record levels for fueling stations and record order levels for ISO containers,” said Chart.

Chart added that it continued to see strengthening demand across the business with the exception of its Energy & Chemicals FinFans (E&C FinFans) segment where third- quarter orders were down $28.9M when compared to the third quarter of 2019.

Chart's orders of $262.7M were down slightly from the third quarter of 2019, which included a $6.6M air cooled heat exchanger order for Calcasieu Pass LNG.

D&S West and D&S East orders increased 38 percent and 13.9 percent respectively over the third quarter of 2019.

“The strength of our order activity in the third quarter 2020 included multiple records and a very strong start to October orders, even without all industrial gas customers fully back in the field due to continued Covid-19 restrictions,” stated Jill Evanko, Chart’s Chief Executive and President.

Evanko noted that the company took recent steps to expand its hydrogen product offering and expanded long-term agreements would set the stage for strong 2021 results.

Booked orders were with 147 new customers in the third quarter and in the year-to-date numbered 407.

Chart noted in its highlights that it signed 10 new long-term agreements with major customers, including for repair and service, hydrogen and LNG fueling stations.

The third-quarter 2020 HLNG vehicle tank orders were over $20 million, the second highest quarterly level.

“This has been driven by high demand from our customers on long-term agreements, demand for LNG over-the-road vehicles in geographies outside of Europe, including South America, Russia and Japan, and expanded applications for these tanks such as for LNG buses,” said Chart.

“LNG infrastructure and small-scale applications are continuing to expand, and we expect that to continue over the next several years,” the company explained.

“And while big LNG projects remain on the horizon, final Investment decisions have been delayed. Yet even with those delays, in the third quarter 2020, we received an early engineering release for a big LNG terminal for brazed aluminum heat exchangers and cold boxes to be used on the natural gas pre-treatment Train,” said Chart.

After the third quarter, Chart reported the October 2020 divestiture of the cryobiological business for $320M in cash.

Proceeds were used to pay down debt, close the $10M acquisition of US Worthington Industries cryogenic trailer and hydrogen trailer business in Theodore, Alabama, and to invest in French firm McPhy to expand commercial hydrogen opportunities.

Chart reiterated its full-year 2020 guidance of revenue of $1.18 billion and associated diluted adjusted earnings per share of $2.25.

The Atlanta, Georgia-based company said its full-year 2021 outlook was for revenue of between $1.25Bln and $1.32Bln and associated diluted adjusted EPS of between $3.00 and $3.40.

“As we have said on numerous occasions, we consider ourselves the provider of cryogenic equipment regardless of molecule and we believe that there will be a hybrid of renewable energy sources as the clean energy transition continues,” said Chart.

“Hydrogen will be significant in this transition, and with our 50-plus years of hydrogen equipment experience, we will play a key part in the full hydrogen value chain,” the company added.

Chart Industries, the maker of equipment for the liquefied natural gas and industrial gas industries, posted a rise in net income and revenues as it benefited from orders across all sectors from large liquefaction plants to small-scale LNG and completed another acquisition.