Golar LNG is reportedly soon to achieve a fresh high for LNG shipping rates, as reports circulate in the market of the company being close to chartering out one of its LNG carriers at a rate of $120,000 per day for a period of two to three years.
The mid-term period charter for the 2006-built, 145,700 cu m Golar Maria, if secured, would provide LNG shipowners with an emphatic confirmation of the strength of the LNG shipping market going in to 2012 as demand for gas grows in energy-hungry emerging economies in Asia, with the market balance between demand and vessel supply staying healthy.
Market talk of the possible $120,000 per day charter follows comments by Golar LNG chief executive Doug Arnell at a conference in Oslo at the start of the month that rates will reach the $120,000 per day level in 2012, possibly even rising as high as $135,000 per day in 2013.
The market has already reportedly seen daily rates of $110,000 per day earlier this year, after Stena Bulk claimed its 2011-built, 171,800 cu m Crystal Sky was chartered out at that rate in June for eight months, with the expectation that it will achieve more after the contract ends early next year.