LNG

Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), whose energy fleet includes over 150 tankers for oil and other products and around 90 LNG carriers, reported stable LNG profits while the containership business was badly hit by a “tidal wave” of new vessels in the sector.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Gibraltar linking the Mediterranean and the Atlantic for shipping and without saying how such a move would be carried out and the threat from Tehran came as the UK condemned Iran as a “malign influence” in the world that was supporting current attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Clarkson, the UK-based global shipping services company and maritime consultancy for LNG and other transported hydrocarbons and products, reported a jump in annual revenues of over 36 percent and record profits even as uncertainties remained in the industry from geo-political issues.

Oct 31 (LNGJ) - Mitsui OSK Lines, the Japanese shipping company with an operating fleet of around 100 liquefied natural gas carriers, reported a more than doubling of fiscal first-half net profits to 603.64 billion yen ($4.10Bln) compared with 278.07Bln yen ($1.88Bln) for its overall business including oil tankers, car carriers, containerships and dry-bulk vessels. MOL manages its LNG carriers and other fleets through six firms based in Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Oman and Algeria and also has extensive fleets in the other sectors.

   MOL said first-half shipping revenues from April to the end of September came to 821.33Bln yen ($5.56Bln). “While continuing to generate stable profit through existing long-term charter contracts, the LNG carrier business posted a year-on-year decline in profit partially due to the expiration of some long-term contracts,” said the company. “The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) business posted a year-on-year increase in profit,” it added.

Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) Ltd, the Greek-owned shipping line with over 70 vessels in operation or ordered including LNG vessels and various classes of oil tankers from Aframax to Panamax and Very Large Crude Carriers, has given an overview of the market since the start of the Russian conflict in Ukraine.

An attack on the LNG and oil and gas-producing United Arab Emirates has led a UK-based shipping security firm to raise a commercial shipping warning in the region to “substantial” and for Saudi Arabian and UAE-flagged ships to “severe”.

Two Japanese trading houses, Marubeni Corp. and Mitsui and Co., which have diverse interests in the LNG sector and other industries, have completed a joint technological development programme for the demonstration of unmanned ships.

Flex LNG, the growing LNG shipping company with four vessels operating and nine others on order and whose largest shareholder is a trust firm controlled by Norwegian magnate John Fredriksen, has formally filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.