The LNG market is poised to open up, as the number of speculative newbuildings increases and owners seeking refuge from a tanker sector plagued by overcapacity opt for a spate of conversions.
The recent purchase by Stena Bulk of three vessels offloaded by Taiwan’s TMT is being seen by analysts as the start of a trend that may lead to a growing spot market.
Stena Bulk chief executive Ulf Ryder said the move into LNG was done purely on a speculative basis. The company paid $700m for the trio.
One 145,000 cu m 2006-built vessel, now named Stena Blue Sky, is currently on charter to Gazprom for 22 months; the other two vessels, both 174,000 cu m, will be delivered from South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in the coming weeks and may well be put on to the spot market, pending a longer contract being arranged.
“It was an asset play,” said Mr Ryder. “It is a very interesting market and there are still high entry barriers.”
While the price is still deemed too high for the current market by many analysts, that is likely to ease as interest in LNG shipping increases and more new entrants follow Stena’s lead.
“New market trends are set to emerge in the LNG markets. LNG is hot. Rates are going sky high. We have had four or five years of low markets in LNG and every dog has its day,” Fearnleys LNG director Per-Christian Fett said.
The LNG market has become the one area of optimism on which shipowners can agree and this week’s Nor-Shipping conference has seen a parade of high-profile owners talking up opportunities in the sector.