LNG shipper GasLog Partners said its revenues increased 4 percent in the fourth quarter on the back of higher earnings from the company’s spot fleet.
Revenues rose to $88.2 million in the fourth quarter, up from $85 million in the same period last year, and also from $80.5 million in the prior quarter.
The NYSE-listed limited partnership controlled by Greece’s GasLog attributed the rise to the improved performance of its spot fleet, in line with the “ongoing improvement of the LNG shipping market observed in 2021 and the short-term charters we entered into.”
Headline spot rates for TFDE LNG carriers averaged $149,000 per day in the fourth quarter of 2021, a 38 percent increase year-on-year, while spot rates for steam vessels averaged $107,000 per day, up by 47 percent, according to Clarkson Research Services.
The partnership’s fleet consists of 15 LNG carriers with an average carrying capacity of about 158,000 cbm. This includes the 155,000-cbm TFDE GasLog Shanghai, chartered by Gubvor, which it sold and leased back from CDBL.
GasLog Partners has five steam LNG carriers chartered to Cheniere, Gunvor, Jovo, and CNTIC VPower. The firm owns nine TFDE vessels out of which six are on charter to Shell, two to TotalEnergies, and one to Trafigura.
Net loss
During the fourth quarter, the firm recognized a non-cash impairment loss of $104 million on the book values of the five steam vessels, built in 2006 and 2007.
GasLog Partners said the principal factors that led to the recognition of the non-cash impairment loss included the differences of the ship broker estimates of its steam vessels’ fair market values compared to their carrying values, as well as reduced expectations of the long-term rates for these older technology vessels.
Due to the impairment, the LNG shipper posted a loss of $70.8 million in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $22.6 million in the same period in 2020.
Chief executive Paolo Enoizi said the company’s continued cost optimization and rechartering activities helped improve its profitability, as well as the company’s overall liquidity position, with about $146.0 million of cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year.
“Furthermore, we repurchased an additional $6 million of preference units in the open market during the fourth quarter, bringing the total amount of preference units repurchased to $18.4 million during 2021 and further improving the fleet’s all-in free cash flows,” he said.
“As we look ahead to 2022, we expect to continue with our capital allocation strategy, which will enhance our competitiveness and position the partnership for continued success in the spot and short-term market for LNG shipping,” Enoizi said.
