Malaysia’s MISC, a unit of Petronas, said its profit dropped in the fourth quarter, as its LNG business logged a rise in both revenue and operating profit.
The shipping firm said its gas assets and solution business, which includes a fleet of LNG and ethane carriers, posted a revenue of 765.4 million ringgit ($182.7 million) and an operating profit of 342.5 million ringgit ($81.7 million) in the October-December period.
Revenue rose 17.5 percent year-on-year due to higher earning days following deliveries of five very large ethane carriers, while operating profit increased 44 percent when compared to the same period last year, MISC said.
The firm 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 461.7 million ringgit ($110.2 million). This marked a drop when compared to 556 million ringgit in the corresponding period.
Revenue rose by 16.8 percent to 3.08 billion ringgit ($735.5 million) while operating profit rose 16.9 percent to 373.3 million ringgit.
For the entire year of 2021, MISC reported a profit of 1.83 billion ringgit. This compares to a loss of 43 million ringgit in the year before.
Medium-term outlook for LNG shipping remains “favorable”
MISC said spot LNG charter rates jumped to a record high in the fourth quarter of 2021 on
strong winter demand for LNG in Asia and Europe, amidst shortages and elevated prices of natural gas.
Spot charter rates were also driven by tight vessel availability, exacerbated by increased
shipping distances as US LNG supply was pulled into the Far East, as well as congestion at the Panama Canal, the firm said.
“Although spot rates have since eased moving into 2022, the medium-term outlook
for LNG shipping remains favorable as reflected by the record number of new LNG carriers
ordered in 2021,” MISC said.