Liquid Natural Gas Tankers Loading in the UK

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=a2iO0U1vFres

By Ben Farey

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- The number of liquefied natural gas tankers sailing to the U.K. increased in the last week before an intensification of North Sea field maintenance in August, ship-tracking data show.

Tankers sailing to Britain, Europe’s biggest gas market, climbed to four from three a week ago, according to AISLive data compiled by Bloomberg.

There may be as many as six LNG carriers heading to the U.K. now. One of them, the Arctic Princess, does not show the U.K. as its destination. Another, the Umm Slal, gives an arrival date of July 7.

OAO Gazprom bought a cargo of LNG from StatoilHydro ASA and sold it to Petroliam Nasional Bhd. of Malaysia to import into the Dragon LNG terminal in south Wales. The cargo is loaded on the Arctic Princess, Frederic Barnaud, LNG director at the U.K.- based unit Gazprom Global LNG, said over the phone.

Kuwait is to receive its first delivery of LNG next week at an import facility built by Excelerate Energy LLC.

The tanker Sohar LNG will arrive in the Gulf state on Aug. 4. A second ship, the Grand Elena, is scheduled to arrive on Aug. 9 from OAO Gazprom and Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Sakhalin-2 plant off Russia’s east coast.

Exxon Mobil Corp.’s Italian LNG terminal will receive its first cargo next week, according to partner Edison SpA.

“It’s the first time, the first cargo,” Stefano Amoroso, a spokesman for Milan-based Edison SpA, said today by telephone.

Signals today were captured from 148 vessels, 2 fewer than on July 24. That’s 48 percent of the global fleet of 310 LNG carriers.

The following table lists by country of destination all the LNG tankers that have transmitted a time of arrival within the next three months, including today. LNG is natural gas that’s cooled to a liquid for transport.

July 31 July 24
Tankers Share Tankers Share
(Number) (%) (Number) (%)

Japan 25 17 25 17
Qatar 11 7 11 7
U.A.E. 10 7 14 9
South Korea 9 6 5 3
Spain 9 6 5 3
Malaysia 8 5 10 7
Australia 7 5 6 4
Egypt 6 4 8 5
Indonesia 6 4 4 3
Nigeria 6 4 5 3
Algeria 5 3 5 3
Singapore 4 3 1 1
Trinidad 4 3 3 2
U.K. 4 3 3 2
Suez 3 2 4 3
U.S. 3 2 2 1
Atlantic 2 1 4 3
France 2 1 1 1
Gibraltar 2 1 2 1
India 2 1 3 2
Indian Ocean 2 1 0 0
Kuwait 2 1 0 0
Unspecified 2 1 2 1
Africa 1 1 1 1
Argentina 1 1 0 0
Belgium 1 1 2 1
Equatorial Guinea 1 1 1 1
Far East 1 1 1 1
Italy 1 1 1 1
Netherlands Antilles 1 1 0 0
Norway 1 1 3 2
Oman 1 1 2 1
Portugal 1 1 1 1
Russia 1 1 4 3
South China Sea 1 1 2 1
Taiwan 1 1 0 0
West Africa 1 1 1 1
Mediterranean 0 0 1 1
Mexico 0 0 1 1
Libya 0 0 1 1
China 0 0 1 1
Asia 0 0 1 1
Greece 0 0 2 1
Pacific Basin 0 0 1 1
148 150

To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Farey in London at bfarey@bloomberg.net