London-based small-scale player Avenir LNG said its quarterly revenues rose following the delivery of its first two newbuilds.
Revenues increased by $9.7 million from the third quarter last year to $10.5 million in the same period in 2021.
Ebitda also increased to $3.23 million, compared to a loss of $4.61 in the July-September period last year, Avenir LNG said on Monday.
However, Avenir reported a net loss of $1.28 million, improving from $4.32 million last year.
Chief executive Peter Mackey said the company “remains on track to meet the financial goals we have set for full year 2021.”
“Despite the challenges of the external operating environment, we are very pleased with our progress through this transformational year for Avenir LNG,” Mackey said.
LNG vessel deliveries
The joint venture of Stolt-Nielsen, Hoegh and Golar took delivery of its first two vessels, Avenir Advantage and Avenir Accolade in October 2020 and March 2021, respectively.
Avenir also welcomed the 7,500-cbm LNG bunkering and supply vessel, Avenir Aspiration, in October.
The newly delivered Avenir Aspiration will serve the company’s Higas terminal located on the Italian island of Sardinia. The terminal started its commercial operations in August.
According to Avenir, this third vessel is currently in the Baltics for “some bunkering test operations.”
It expects Avenir Aspiration to arrive in the Mediterranean by the beginning of 2022 to start serving the terminal in Sardinia.
Besides these three ships, Avenir has three more vessels on order at CIMC SOE.
Looking at the current schedule, Avenir expects to take delivery of the 20,000-cbm Avenir Allegiance this year, followed by the 20,000-cbm Avenir Achievement and the 7,500-cbm Avenir Ascension next year.
Avenir said it has completed the financing of its remaining newbuilding vessels.
High prices affect demand
Spot LNG, ship charter, and the TTF prices have reached record highs this year.
Avenir supplies customers across a broad range of demand segments ranging from residential consumers to large industrial gas users.
The impact of recent record-high global gas prices has manifested itself differently dependent on the end-use segment of our customers, Avenir said.
“Sustained high gas prices have the potential to drive delay in customers making switching decisions to LNG and/or demand destruction in certain segments in the near-term. The outlook for gas prices in the near-term presents a risk to our business which we are monitoring closely,” the firm said.
Despite short-term pressures driven by the high gas price, Avenir maintains a bullish view on the demand potential for LNG in Sardinia, serviced by its Higas terminal.
“Our pipeline of opportunities for customers to switch to LNG across Sardinia remains robust, although we will likely see some delay in customers switching to LNG driven by the current pricing environment,” the firm said.
In the longer-term the fundamentals for increased gas penetration across the island remain strong, Avenir said.
LNG bunkering continues to rise
According to Avenir, LNG bunkering remains the “stand-out growth segment in small-scale LNG.”
The orderbook of new LNG-fueled tonnage remains “incredibly robust and shows no signs of slowing,” the firm said.
“Avenir LNG is well positioned to serve the market with all of our ships being bunker capable, in addition to being highly efficient LNG supply vessels,” it said.
