French LNG containment giant GTT received orders for 52 liquefied natural gas carriers in the first half of this year, including for 18 giant LNG vessels.
GTT said in its financial report on Thursday that deliveries of these LNG carriers will take place between 2026 and 2031.
The firm booked orders for 25 LNG carriers in the first quarter and 27 LNG carriers in the second quarter.
These include the 18 271,000-cbm QC-Max LNG carriers ordered at China’s Hudong-Zhonghua as part of QatarEnergy’s massive shipbuilding program.
Besides LNG carriers, GTT won orders for four large-capacity ethane carriers, one FSRU, and one FLNG in the first half of 2024.
“With 58 orders recorded in the first half of 2024, commercial performance in our core business continues to be very strong,” Jean-Baptiste Choimet, GTT’s new CEO said.
“LNG demand remains high, as illustrated by the two final investment decisions announced in June 2024 for new liquefaction projects (Cedar FLNG and Al Ruwais), leading to additional LNG carrier needs,” he said.
Revenues jump
As of June 30, 2024, GTT’s order book excluding LNG as fuel stood at 342 units.
This includes 325 LNG carriers, eight ethane carriers, two FSRUs, two FLNGs, and also five onshore storage tanks.
With regard to LNG as fuel, the order book stood at 56 units as of June 30, 2024. These are all containerships.
Moreover, GTT said its consolidated revenues rose 65.8 percent to 294.8 million euros ($320 million) in the first half of this year, while its newbuild revenues reached 271 million euros, up 65.7 percent compared to the same period in 2023.
Net income reached 170.3 million euros in the first half of 2024, up 102.7 percent compared with 84 million euros in the first half of 2023.
Choimet said the group’s revenue benefited from the “numerous” orders received since 2021.
GTT received orders for 73 LNG carriers and one FLNG in 2023, down from record 162 orders for LNG carriers in 2022 and higher than 68 orders in 2021.
“Consequently, taking into account the shipbuilding schedules, the group confirms its revenue and Ebitda objectives for the 2024 financial year. An interim dividend of 3.67 euros will be paid to shareholders, reflecting the group’s improved results,” Choimet said.
Up to 100 LNG carriers needed for projects under construction
Choimet said during GTT’s results presentation on Friday that the market requires up to 100 additional LNG carriers to ship contracted volumes of LNG from plants under construction.
The projects with start up dates scheduled from 2024 to 2028 include the Golden Pass LNG project, the Rio Grande LNG project, QatarEnergy’s NFE LNG project, the Plaquemines LNG project, and others.
He also confirmed that GTT estimates there will be more than 450 orders for large LNG carriers over the next ten years.
GTT also estimates there will be orders for up to ten FSRUs, excluding conversions of existing LNG carriers, and up to ten FLNGs in the next ten years.