LNG

Électricité de France, the French utility business known as EDF and a former large player in the LNG market before partially pooling its activities separately with Japan’s JERA Co. Inc., is now being overtaken by its financial difficulties amid concerns about future power shortages in the country.

Capital Product Partners LP (CPLP), the growing liquefied natural gas and energy shipping assets owner, has taken delivery of the newbuild LNG carrier, “Asterix I” and chartered it to a UK-based company.

CPLP said that the vessel has started seven years of employment with Hartree Partners Power & Gas Company (UK) Limited, who maintain an option to extend by an additional two years.

Hartree Partners is a London-based energy supplier and is also involved in trading and marketing volumes to the National Grid.

The owner of “Astrix 1” is a Greek company listed on the Nasdaq global exchange as well as being a master limited partnership in the Marshall Islands.

The LNG vessels sail under the Capital Gas banner and the experienced CPLP executive leadership comprises Chief Executive Gerasimos (Jerry) Kalogiratos, Chief Financial Officer Nikolaos Kalapotharakos and Chief Commercial Officer Spyridon Leousis.

The “Asterix I” vessel is the seventh latest-generation of LNG carriers for CPLP and has 174,000 cubic metres capacity.

Fleet

CPLP currently owns 22 vessels, including the seven LNG carriers as well as 11 Neo-Panamax container vessels, three Panamax container vessels and one Capesize bulk carrier.

This excludes one 13,312 TEU container vessel that CPLP has agreed to acquire and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2023

CPLP signed an agreement in June 2022 to acquire one 174,000 cubic metres capacity latest-generation X-DF LNG carrier and three 13,312 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) containerships with hybrid scrubber-fitted Tier III and Phase III as well as being dual fuel-ready.

CPLP in its most recent earnings posted on February 3, 2023, reported full year net profits of $21.1 million, an increase of 13 percent on the $18.6M of net earnings from 2021.

The company's annual revenues came to $79.9M versus $63.6M in the previous year.

The increase in revenue was primarily attributable to the contributions of the four LNG carriers acquired during the fourth quarter of 2021 and operating for the full period and an increase in the daily rate earned by the LNG vessels “Aristarchos” and “Asklipios” from September 2022.

French firm EDF Trading, a leader in the international wholesale energy markets and a partner of Japanese LNG trader JERA Global Markets, has entered the Japanese power market.

Axpo, the Swiss renewable energy producer and global energy trading firm, is opening an office in Singapore to become the latest firm to join Asia's growing liquefied natural gas trading market in the city-state where 50 LNG trading and shipping firms have offices.

The US exported 10 liquefied natural gas shipments in the past week, one less than the previous week, as mixed US natural gas prices were offset by increasing LNG values in Europe and Asia on demand expectations even as the market remained over-supplied.

North Sea Brent crude oil prices dropped under $40 per barrel after previously staying in the $41-$45 a barrel range for the previous two months, while spot LNG and natural gas prices declined on demand concerns related to the slowing economic recovery in China and Europe.

Glencore, the UK-listed commodities and mining company, has agreed to take over a loss-making liquefied natural gas business from Danish energy company Orsted, including long-term capacity at the Dutch Gate regasification terminal in Rotterdam.