Malaysia’s MISC, a unit of Petronas, said its LNG business logged a rise in both revenue and operating profit in the January-March period of this year.
The shipping firm said its gas assets and solution business, which includes a fleet of LNG and ethane carriers, posted a revenue of 757.7 million ringgit ($172.2 million) and an operating profit of 391.2 million ringgit ($88.9 million) in the first quarter of this year.
Revenue rose 10.5 percent year-on-year due to higher earning days following deliveries of very large ethane carriers, while operating profit increased 30 percent when compared to the same period last year, MISC said.
The company said the operating income of the gas assets and solutions segment “continues to remain stable, supported by its existing portfolio of long-term charters as it pursues available growth opportunities in the market.”
MISC is one of the largest operators of LNG carriers and most of them are on long-term charters. It operates a fleet of 30 LNG carriers and two floating storage units.
Looking at the overall quarterly results, MISC reported a profit of 376.4 million ringgit ($85.5 million). This marked a drop when compared to 429.8 million ringgit in the corresponding period.
However, group revenue rose by 12.9 percent to 2.86 billion ringgit ($650.2 million) while operating profit increased by 11.4 percent to 516.9 million ringgit ($117.5 million).
European demand supports LNG project sanctioning
MISC said spot LNG charter rates have “marginally improved” in March as compared to January 2022 due to higher LNG imports by European countries seeking to reduce reliance on Russian piped gas.
In the short term, MISC expects LNG imports in the European region to increase as concerns over gas supplies, cold weather forecasts and reduced wind-based generation persist.
“Europe’s aim to diversify away from Russian gas is also expected to support an even more positive LNG project sanctioning environment in coming years with many export projects mainly in the US advancing significantly in recent months,” MISC said.