New Delhi, May 28, 2021: Almost a fifth of vessels ordered so far this year will operate on LNG and another significant number are being built ‘LNG-ready’. These were some of the key points made by Peter Keller, Chairman of SEA-LNG, a lobby group that advocates LNG as a marine fuel, when he addressed participants at an International Gas Union (IGU) press briefing yesterday.
Birthe Van Vliet, representing the IGU World LNG Report Task Force, said that four new receiving terminals has taken the global total of import capacity to 850.1m tonnes per annum (mtpa) as of February 2021, with a further 147.3 mtpa under construction. Two new FSRUs in Brazil and Croatia made up part of this expansion as floating options remain attractive, particularly in emerging markets, she said.
Australia overtook Qatar to become the world’s largest exporter of LNG, while the US came third with exports up by almost a third to 44.8 million tonnes, despite summer shut-ins. Russia was fourth, with exports of 29.6m tonnes.
Global director of LNG at S&P Global Platts, Ciaran Roe, noted LNG’s ‘extraordinary’ pricing pattern over the last 16 months, with both the lowest-ever prices in the early months of last year, followed by record highs early this year. Since then, he said, prices have stabilised at ‘seasonally high’ levels, underpinned by economic recovery and record demand in Asia, with record volumes imported month-after-month to LNG’s largest markets.