Qatar’s Nakilat, the world’s largest LNG shipper, reported a 23.6 percent rise in third quarter profit as it continued to slash administrative costs.
The Qatari LNG shipping giant logged a net profit of 900 million riyals ($239.9 million) compared to 728 million riyals in 2019.
Revenue increased 12.2 percent to 3.06 billion riyals ($815.8 million) while general and administrative expenses decreased by 18.7 percent.
Nakilat attributed the rise to additional revenues coming from its acquisition of the remaining 49.9 percent stake in four Q-Flex vessels in October 2019.
In addition, the company’s ship repair, offshore fabrication, towage and shipping agency businesses remained fully operational throughout this period, despite the ongoing challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nakilat also said the launch of the second phase of its fleet management transition from Shell contributed to better performance.
The shipping giant transitioned six LNG carriers to in-house management since May 2020.
Following the delivery of three new LNG newbuilds by end-2021, Nakilat’s fleet will rise to 74 vessels. These include four LPG carriers and one FSRU.