LNG Tankers May Idle for Years as Fleet Expands

Some liquefied-natural-gas tankers may lie idle for years because too many are being built as the global recession erodes demand for the fuel.

‘The CHART OF THE DAY shows how the number of LNG tankers sitting at anchor, the red line, has expanded in line with the world fleet, in white, indicating insufficient cargoes. “Some of these ships will remain long-term unemployed, for three or four years in the worst case,” said Morten Frisch, senior partner at Morten Frisch Consulting, an East Horsley, U.K.-based consultant to the LNG industry. Algeria, Nigeria, Qatar, Indonesia, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea are leading cutbacks in LNG cargoes as demand weakens, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a report yesterday. LNG exports fell 5.5 percent to 24.1 billion cubic feet a day in January and February compared with a year earlier, the bank said. The plunge in business may encourage some owners to lease out their vessels for storage, Frisch said. Others may mothball ships, he said.

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OPEC, Asian officials call for curbs on oil speculation

CAIRO: OPEC and Asian energy officials called Sunday for new oil investments and tougher measures to combat speculation in crude markets that some have argued helped fuel last year’s oil price spike.

‘The call came during a one-day energy meeting in Tokyo to discuss volatility in the world oil market. Officials are concerned about another price spike once the world emerges from the global recession. The slowdown has sharply eroded oil demand and driven crude prices down about 65 percent from mid-July levels of $147 per barrel.

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Sirichai Fisheries embroiled in new legal battle

Senator Khun Wicharn Sirichai, the Managing Director of Sirichai Fisheries, Thailand, has exclusively released documentation of a legal case in which Indonesian authorities have accused a Thai-flagged trawler of illegal fishing in the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone to BairdMaritime.com.

‘Sirichai Fisheries was also the owner of the ‘Ekawatnava 5’, a vessel which was sunk in November 2008 in a dramatic explosion caused by the Indian Navy on the false presumption of it being a Somali pirate mother ship. According to documents released, the Thai-flagged trawler ‘Or. Sirichainava 18’ left Somali waters on February 2, 2009, and headed back to the Port of Samutsakhon Province, Thailand.By February 20, the vessel had arrived at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, and was, according to Sirichai, within the vessel’s rights to freedom of navigation, as stated by UNCLOS 1982.

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