LNG

BG Group of the UK, one of the world’s most active LNG players, is likely to boost deliveries to the US during 2006 as the biggest European capacity holder in regasification terminals there, and as it secures more off-take this year from Trinidad and Egypt.

The UK company cheered investors when it issued a very upbeat earnings statement earlier this month, with fourth-quarter profit more than doubling to a higher-than-forecast £504 million ($878M) and LNG operating profit trebling for the quarter and rising by 87 percent for the full year.

Iberdrola, Spain's No. 2 energy company and one of Europe’s biggest LNG buyers, said it has agreed to buy Scottish Power of the UK in a deal worth 17.2 billion euros ($22.6Bln) to spread its customer reach in the Atlantic Basin.

With more than 4,000 safe and timely deliveries of more than 200 million tonnes of LNG over the last 25 years, Malaysia’s MISC Berhad has grown from a humble player with a micro fleet of five to become the largest single owner-operator of LNG tankers in the world, with 21 LNG tankers and eight newbuilds expected to be delivered in 2008.

In terms of cubic capacity, MISC has approximately 10 per cent of the market share in the LNG segment.

MISC began its foray into the LNG transportation in 1983 with the delivery for Malaysian national energy group Petronas of its first LNG cargo to Tokyo Gas’s terminal in Sodegaura, Chiba.

From the 1980s up to 2002, MISC’s sole client has been PETRONAS, whose evolution into a major LNG producer and supplier has helped set in motion MISC’s own ventures into energy transportation.