Singapore (Platts)–24Sep2013/609 am EDT/1009 GMT
International LPG trading and ship-owning company Petredec Limited is in negotiations with a Chinese company to sell its Very Large Gas Carrier, Red Rum, after it recently sold another LPG vessel, Reference Point, Petredec said Tuesday.
More Chinese companies are working on building up the country’s fledgling LPG fleet, by buying old or placing orders for newbuild vessels to manage freight costs, as the country is set to import more propane for its planned propane dehydrogenation, or PDH, plants.
“Red Rum is not sold yet but we are in discussions with a Chinese buyer. Until this transaction is complete, we would like details to remain private,” said Chief Executive Giles Fearn in response to Platts’ queries. “Reference Point was sold a while back.”
Article continues below…
Request a free trial of: LP Gaswire
LP Gaswire reports on the LPG/NGL industry every business day. It details emerging market trends, pricing, and market news for ethane, iso-butane, natural gasoline, normal butane, and propane in the Japan, Arabian Gulf, Mediterranean, Northwest Europe, and U.S. Gulf Coast markets.
Several shipping sources said the potential Chinese buyer of Red Rum could be Guangzhou-based Wide Shine Company, which so far mainly operates smaller pressurized LPG vessels. The ship is expected to be delivered by next January/February, the sources said.
But Petredec denied that Wide Shine, an affiliate of Southwest Maritime Ltd, was the Chinese party involved in the talks. Wide Shine could not be reached for comment.
Petredec bought the 75,178 cubic-meter Red Rum in 2012, its website shows. The Singapore-flagged fully refrigerated LPG vessel was built in 1993 by Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Red Rum, currently in the Gulf of Oman, is scheduled to arrive at Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal Wednesday to load a cargo after leaving an Indonesian port, according to Platts ship tracking software, cFlow.
Shipping and trade sources also said Petredec had sold the 78,476 cu m Reference Point, which it bought in 2010, to a Chinese company, although the name of the buyer could not be immediately confirmed.
Some said the new owner could be gas shipping group, Tianjin Southwest Maritime, or Shandong Shipping. The name of the 1991-built VLGC, has been changed to “Point”, they said
The vessel discharged a cargo at China’s Daxie and Taicang ports over September 16-19, after loading from Fujairah/Khor Fakkan waiting zone, and is now on the way to Singapore, according to cFlow. IRAN CARGOES
Another VLGC, the 1991-built Maple 2, had been sold by Woodstreet Inc. to a Chinese company around mid-2013, although the buyer could not be confirmed.
Shipping sources said the new owner could be Shandong Shipping, which is operating the vessel under the company, Green Energy Global.
The VLGC, which has been renamed MAP, is due to arrive in Fujairah this week from Singapore.
Sources said the ships had been sold for around $22-24 million each, compared with up to $75 million for a newbuild modern VLGC.
No older vessels are now bound for the scrapyard due to demand from Chinese companies, as well as to move more Iranian material, leading to escalating prices in the second-hand market, shipping sources and analysts said.
“We are still looking for the opportunities [to buy] but now it looks too expensive,” one Chinese industry source said. “The reasonable price should be lower than $21 million, and later most people bought at $23-24 million. Now I think it is difficult to buy even around $28 million,” he added.
A unit of Tianjin Southwest Maritime, Hong Kong Southwest Maritime Company, has also placed an order for two new VLGCs at Jiangnan Shipyard, the shipbuilder said last week.
China Oriental Energy Co. Ltd., which is building a 1.2 million mt/year PDH joint venture plant for producing propylene, had earlier ordered six VLGCs, with up to 16 options also at Jiangnan Shipyard, with the first ship slated for delivery by end-2014, Chinese media reported.
Iranian producers have been raising their LPG exports to North Asia, especially to Chinese buyers and to South Korean traders, since shipments resumed in May, ending an eight-month halt due to an EU ban on propane and butane trade from the country, Middle Eastern shipping sources said.
The vessels plying the Iran-North Asia route include the Sam Russ, Gas Beauty, Schumi, Gas Jasmine and Senna Princess, sources said.
–Ramthan Hussain, ramthan.hussain@platts.com
–Pradeep Rajan, pradeep.rajan@platts.com
–Edited by Jeremy Lovell, jeremy.lovell@platts.com
Petredec says in talks to sell second VLGC to Chinese buyer
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét