Awilco abandons LNG shipping JV talks

Norwegian based LNG transportation provider Awilco said that discussions over establishing a consolidated LNG shipping joint venture have come to a halt. 

To remind, in December last year Awilco said it entered talks with Golar LNG and TMS Cardiff Gas, to establish a joint liquefied natural gas shipping venture.

The company provided no further details on the reasons for the halt in discussions.

It did, however, note that it has contracted historically high earnings through the winter period. The WilForce is currently on an 80-100 day time charter contract until February 2020.

The company’s two ships are expected to report an average TCE of about $84,000 per day per vessel in the fourth quarter of 2019. For the first quarter of 2020 about 50 percent of available days are booked at an expected TCE of about $95,000 per day per vessel.

The committed 10-year refinancing is about to be completed, which will reduce daily interest costs by about $10,000 per vessel at current forward interest rates. Reduced cost coupled with the expected strong market conditions over the next years following a wave of new LNG production heralds an exciting period for the company, Awilco LNG said in its statement.

With in-house technical management approved by oil and gas majors, Awilco LNG remains open to growing the business, either on its own or as part of a  consolidation with other owners.