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[maywillow] 05/8/2018 16:30

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD


Boom over: The industry that was spending $10,000 a minute has reached its peak
By Cole Latimer
6 August 2018 — 12:01am



At the peak of the LNG construction boom, oil and gas company Santos was spending about $10,000 a minute over seven years to bring its $25 billion Queensland-based Gladstone LNG project online.

But the days of new gas mega-projects being built is over as the industry shifts into a new gear of producing gas, says Deloitte.

In a new report, Deloitte says the completion of another two major LNG projects – Inpex’s Ichthys project in the Northern Territory and Chevron’s Wheatstone project in WA – has all but capped Australia’s LNG construction boom.
Australia's oil and gas sector's major construction boom will come to an end once Shell's Prelude floating LNG project comes online.

Australia's oil and gas sector's major construction boom will come to an end once Shell's Prelude floating LNG project comes online.
Photo: Glen Campbell

After Shell completes its $12 billion Prelude floating LNG project – which is also the largest ship in the world – later this year, Australian LNG will hit around 88 million tonnes per annum.

Deloitte’s Investment Monitor report said investment in the oil and gas industry has now fallen 59 per cent year on year.

“Looking ahead, the prospects for investment in new Australian LNG capacity remain limited,” the report said.

It outlined, instead, a rapid expansion of world LNG capacity, with five major projects under construction in the US and Qatar.

“Global LNG import demand remains high enough to absorb the additional supply over 2018, but a period of excess global supply is forecast in coming years. This is set to dampen incentives for additional developments in Australia," the report said.

“Despite the fact that a number of LNG projects remain in the planning stages, prospects will largely depend on the outlook for global demand and the cost competitiveness of Australian LNG facilities.”

However, oil and gas analyst Saul Kavonic said while planned supply levels are expected to run higher than demand, growing demand from China will outstrip supply in the early 2020s.

This was supported by data from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which forecast 7.2 per cent growth in LNG demand this year alone, lifting from 285 million tonnes in 2017 to reach 305 million tonnes in 2018.

This situation will be exacerbated by development projects that have been trapped in the approvals process.

"We really do need to see new LNG projects sanctioned today to avoid this shortage," Mr Kavonic said.

The Deloitte Access Economics Investment Monitor report said areas outside of LNG look slightly more optimistic.

“Robust growth in the global and domestic economy is supporting demand for the goods and services that businesses sell, leading to higher profits, improved business confidence and tightening capacity utilisation,” Deloitte Access Economics partner Stephen Smith said.

“And given that interest rates remain low and investment has been weak for a number of years, the case for businesses to invest in new capacity is increasingly compelling.

“Yet a degree of caution is still required. Firstly, while Australia’s outlook is solid, it isn’t great. As China’s economy slowed, cuts to interest rates pushed house prices and retail sales above where they would otherwise have gone. That reduced the severity of the downturn, but will also reduce the size of the present upswing.”


Cole Latimer

Covering energy and policy at Fairfax Media.

[la forge] 05/8/2018 06:42

LNG to Become the Fuel of Choice for Shipping?
LNG carrier

By Alain Bourgeois 2018-08-04 20:40:11

Looking at LNG as a marine fuel, the IEA, in their 2017 World Energy Outlook estimates the market potential to 26 million tons per annum by 2030. According to DNV GL, LNG could account up to one-third of marine fuels by 2050.

The IMO requirement that marine bunkers contain no more than 0.5 percent sulfur by 2020 which will have a dramatic impact on the operations of all of the world’s marine vessels. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution, and there are numerous alternative fuels and hybrid solutions coming on the market.

The industry is now talking about the possibility of a carbon-neutral maritime shipping in the long run. Natural gas will not necessarily solve the zero-emission and greenhouse gas challenge, but for now, that makes LNG even more attractive since it is the best bridge to longer-term options such as hydrogen and ammonia, which is too big step for the foreseeable future.

Currently, a quarter of the newbuild cruise ship capacity is using LNG, including Carnival, MSC, RCCL and Disney Cruise Line. Major players in other ship sectors like global liners are starting to adopt LNG including Sovcomflot, Siem, UECC, RCCL or CMA CGM which is going to build nine 22,000 TEU container ships fueled by LNG.

In addition, Forward Maritime Group expects to order up to 20 gas fueled Kamsarmax bulk carriers, suggesting that LNG could become a close reality for tramp shipping worldwide. An early order of dual-fuel bulk carriers could facilitate an early start of additional LNG bunkering locations worldwide and accelerate its market penetration since, for many ship operators, the challenge is getting fuel to ports where it needs to be.

While there are no other potential fuels largely available, the issue is very much about having trust into its great economics post-2020: lower OPEX and shorter ROI – following reduced CAPEX over time – will drive the LNG market penetration as soon as the marine industry faces higher distillate costs.

The marginal cost of gas in transport is lower than that of oil-related fuels. According to the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, “the discount of LNG over gasoil remains at least $5/MMBTu, and this is likely to be the most relevant differential once the IMO restrictions are introduced worldwide in 2020,” an equivalent $225 per ton fuel price differential that is large enough to offset extra CAPEX and guarantee a fair return to investors. Going green with black numbers is not an illusion.

The choice of natural gas is the only one meeting present and foreseeable requirements, with proven technology and affordable fuel. Despite the development of LNG as a marine fuel has been slower than anticipated, large marine operators continue to pursue that LNG shall offer long-term price stability, operational simplicity and environmental advantages over exhaust gas cleaning systems, low-sulfur marine fuels and other niche fuels like methanol, ethanol, ethane or LPG.

Topics around this, including LNG as a marine fuel and LNG liquefaction and shipping, will all be discussed at the technical streams at the Gastech 2018 conference, held from September 17-20 at the Fira Gran Via, Barcelona. Over 350 speakers are expected to address 3,500 strategic and technical delegates during the multi-streamed conference.

Alain Bourgeois is an Independent Consultant at Glowake.


The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.

[waldron] 03/8/2018 19:24

China Threatens Steep Tariffs on U.S. LNG
alt
LNG carrier at the Sabine Pass LNG terminal in Texas (file image)

By MarEx 2018-08-03 11:01:22

China's government has proposed to levy tariffs of 25 percent on American LNG exports, threatening the burgeoning trade in natural gas between the U.S. Gulf Coast and East Asia.

Multiple American energy companies are investing in capital-intensive liquefaction capacity to satisfy growing Chinese demand. China has limited domestic supplies, and as its consumption grows, it has quickly surpassed Japan to become the world's largest natural gas importer. China gets just over half of its import volume from LNG shipments, and it imported about 38 mtpa last year, up from about 10 mtpa in 2010. Half of that increase came in the last two years alone, driven by a government policy favoring gas over coal.

The U.S. supplied four percent of China's LNG demand last year, making it the nation's fifth-largest supplier. The threat of steep tariffs on U.S. LNG, even if never fully implemented, could have a chilling effect on American investment decisions and the signing of new purchase agreements.

Given the commodity's importance, many analysts had predicted that Beijing would leave LNG out of the trade restrictions it is imposing on U.S. exports in retaliation for the Trump administration's escalating rounds of tariffs. "LNG is clearly seen as an essential good by the Chinese government. Given this, in the event of an escalation, LNG is likely to remain outside the bounds of any additional tariffs," predicted analyst Nicholas Browne of Wood Mac in a research note in June.

That calculus may change next year when Gazprom's massive "Power of Siberia" pipeline is complete. Once operational, it will deliver up to 60 billion cubic meters per year from Russian gas fields - more than the total amount of LNG that China imported in 2017. China and Russia are already in negotiations over a second, parallel pipeline with equivalent capacity.

[sarkasm] 01/8/2018 20:46

This first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal Independence comes through the sea gate port of Klaipeda on October 27, 2014
Trump's LNG Project Comes at Expense of European Gas Firms, Consumers – Scholar
© AFP 2018 / PETRAS MALUKAS
Opinion
21:14 01.08.2018(updated 21:15 01.08.2018) Get short URL
207

On July 30, US President Trump announced that EU countries would build from 9 to 11 gas terminals to accept deliveries of US liquefied natural gas (LNG). Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Francis Perrin, a senior research fellow at IRIS, the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, shed light on the prospects for gas demand in Europe.

Sputnik: Who will pay for the infrastructure required to accept deliveries of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europe and how much would it cost?

Francis Perrin: It will cost much, as always in the energy world. And, of course, the LNG industry and LNG business is much more expensive than importing natural gas by pipelines, because in the LNG business you need, first, a liquefaction plant in exporting country, you need fleet of tankers to transport the LNG, liquefied natural gas. And at the arrival in the importing country, you need a terminal, an LNG terminal, and the LNG must be re-gasified in order to be transported by gas lines to reach the final consumers.

READ MORE: No More Than 4 New LNG Facilities Will be Built in EU Anytime Soon — Researcher

So it's expensive industry, but it has a great advantage in terms of security of supplies. When you have an LNG terminal, you are able to import LNG from several countries. With a gas line you can only import gas from the exporting country. And so, for the past few years, the European Commission has encouraged the European countries to develop LNG terminals in order to increase the security of their gas supplies. But the cost will be high, it will be paid by energy companies, gas companies, oil companies, and, of course, by the gas consumers, because at the end of the day the oil and gas companies which will build these LNG terminals will pass the costs on to the consumers, as always.

READ MORE: Trump's Wishful Thinking: Why EU is Unlikely to Become 'Massive Buyer of US LNG'

Sputnik: Is it likely that American liquefied natural gas will be in demand for European clients?

Francis Perrin: There is a demand for gas within the European Union, but this demand is not very dynamic. Why? Because natural gas in Europe is not, as far as we are speaking it can change, of course, is not I would say, a favored energy source. We have renewable sources, especially solar energy [and] wind energy, which are heavily subsidized by several European countries, especially Germany, but not only this country, and which are encouraged by the European Commission because of environmental issues, climate change issues and so on.

READ MORE: LNG Suppliers Try to Force EU to Purchase More Expensive Gas — Kremlin

You have coal, which is not, of course, very clean energy, but which remains very competitive in terms of costs. In some countries, such as France, you have nuclear power. In France nuclear power is the source of about 72-75 percent of all the electricity generated in the country. So, gas is squeezed between the competitiveness of coal and the rise of renewable energies, especially solar and wind, which are subsidized by several member countries of the European Union. So, there is a gas demand, of course, but it's not a growing gas demand so far. The hope for the gas industry is that as European gas production, domestic production, is declining — the North Sea, the Netherlands — Europe will need in the future more gas imports, even if its domestic gas consumption is not rising much and in fact even if this demand is not rising at all.



The views and opinions expressed by Francis Perrin are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

[sarkasm] 01/8/2018 20:46

This first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal Independence comes through the sea gate port of Klaipeda on October 27, 2014
Trump's LNG Project Comes at Expense of European Gas Firms, Consumers – Scholar
© AFP 2018 / PETRAS MALUKAS
Opinion
21:14 01.08.2018(updated 21:15 01.08.2018) Get short URL
207

On July 30, US President Trump announced that EU countries would build from 9 to 11 gas terminals to accept deliveries of US liquefied natural gas (LNG). Speaking to Radio Sputnik, Francis Perrin, a senior research fellow at IRIS, the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, shed light on the prospects for gas demand in Europe.

Sputnik: Who will pay for the infrastructure required to accept deliveries of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europe and how much would it cost?

Francis Perrin: It will cost much, as always in the energy world. And, of course, the LNG industry and LNG business is much more expensive than importing natural gas by pipelines, because in the LNG business you need, first, a liquefaction plant in exporting country, you need fleet of tankers to transport the LNG, liquefied natural gas. And at the arrival in the importing country, you need a terminal, an LNG terminal, and the LNG must be re-gasified in order to be transported by gas lines to reach the final consumers.

READ MORE: No More Than 4 New LNG Facilities Will be Built in EU Anytime Soon — Researcher

So it's expensive industry, but it has a great advantage in terms of security of supplies. When you have an LNG terminal, you are able to import LNG from several countries. With a gas line you can only import gas from the exporting country. And so, for the past few years, the European Commission has encouraged the European countries to develop LNG terminals in order to increase the security of their gas supplies. But the cost will be high, it will be paid by energy companies, gas companies, oil companies, and, of course, by the gas consumers, because at the end of the day the oil and gas companies which will build these LNG terminals will pass the costs on to the consumers, as always.

READ MORE: Trump's Wishful Thinking: Why EU is Unlikely to Become 'Massive Buyer of US LNG'

Sputnik: Is it likely that American liquefied natural gas will be in demand for European clients?

Francis Perrin: There is a demand for gas within the European Union, but this demand is not very dynamic. Why? Because natural gas in Europe is not, as far as we are speaking it can change, of course, is not I would say, a favored energy source. We have renewable sources, especially solar energy [and] wind energy, which are heavily subsidized by several European countries, especially Germany, but not only this country, and which are encouraged by the European Commission because of environmental issues, climate change issues and so on.

READ MORE: LNG Suppliers Try to Force EU to Purchase More Expensive Gas — Kremlin

You have coal, which is not, of course, very clean energy, but which remains very competitive in terms of costs. In some countries, such as France, you have nuclear power. In France nuclear power is the source of about 72-75 percent of all the electricity generated in the country. So, gas is squeezed between the competitiveness of coal and the rise of renewable energies, especially solar and wind, which are subsidized by several member countries of the European Union. So, there is a gas demand, of course, but it's not a growing gas demand so far. The hope for the gas industry is that as European gas production, domestic production, is declining — the North Sea, the Netherlands — Europe will need in the future more gas imports, even if its domestic gas consumption is not rising much and in fact even if this demand is not rising at all.



The views and opinions expressed by Francis Perrin are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.

[adrian j boris] 31/7/2018 07:01

Trump's vision for world energy dominance under threat
by Josh Siegel
| July 31, 2018 12:00 AM

Print this article
Oil Industry.
The Energy Department says that America’s two operating export facilities ship American LNG to 30 nations on five continents, and increased U.S. exports of LNG from 0.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2016 to nearly 2 billion cubic feet per day in 2017.
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The Trump administration is facing threats to its ambition to flood the world with cheap natural gas as a key component of its energy dominance agenda. And some of the damage is self-inflicted.

Most immediately, the U.S. has a shortage of facilities along the coasts to export liquefied natural gas, or LNG — the chilled, liquid form to which gas must be converted for shipment in giant tanker vessels across the sea.

The U.S. has two major LNG export facilities in operation today, with another four set to enter service by the end of 2019. Four others have earned regulatory approval, and their developers are making final investment decisions on whether to build their planned facilities based on whether they can secure contracts for the gas they hope to provide.
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But more than a dozen other facilities are awaiting permit approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a backlog that the panel is struggling to meet because of a manpower shortage and other issues. In fact, it’s been three years since FERC approved a new LNG export terminal.

“There are things we need to do in the near term now, working with industry and Congress, to move projects faster, or we will just miss this U.S. energy moment,” FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, a Republican, told the Washington Examiner. “This is a big opportunity for the country, not just economically but geopolitically. My concern is if we don't pick up the pace, we may miss the moment.”

In the longer run, President Trump’s trade war with China is threatening to discourage the world’s fastest growing LNG market from signing long-term contracts with American developers, experts say.

For now, U.S. LNG isn’t among the more than 500 U.S. products against which China has imposed retaliatory tariffs in response to the Trump administration’;s tariffs against $50 billion in Chinese goods. And it might never happen, because China needs cheap gas to wean off its heavy use of coal that damages the country’s air quality.

But because buyers of LNG demand long-term contracts, in the 20 year range, China could be reluctant to commit to the U.S. with trade tension uncertainty.

“I am not saying China will impose tariffs on U.S. LNG,” said Alex Munson, who studies American LNG for the research consultancy Wood MacKenzie. “That is not in China’s interest. It would make their life harder. What it means is it could make Chinese companies think twice about signing onto long-term contracts because there is a risk that politics will dislocate the supply under those contracts.”

Before the shale boom, the U.S. was expected to become a big importer of LNG, and import terminals were even built in preparation for it. But drilling in shale fields over the last decade has unlocked massive new sources of gas, far more than the U.S. consumes. As a result, America has become a net exporter of natural gas.

To deliver on that promise, companies had to transform expensive terminals equipped to import LNG into ones that can export it. The Trump administration has heralded the shift, predicting American LNG could reduce Russia’s dominance of Europe’s natural gas supply, and help clean up the air in countries with increasing demand for energy, such as China and India. Natural gas, a fossil fuel, emits about half as much carbon dioxide as coal.

The Energy Department says that America’s two operating export facilities ship American LNG to 30 nations on five continents, and increased U.S. exports of LNG from 0.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2016 to nearly 2 billion cubic feet per day in 2017.

The existing export terminals are Sabine Pass in Louisiana, and Dominion Energy’s Cove Point in Lusby, Md.

“The U.S. is in an excellent position to help define the global market for natural gas,” George David Banks, who previously served as President Trump's international energy adviser, told the Washington Examiner. Banks said the Trump administration is eager to use its gas might to encourage Germany to reject Russia’s plan to expand the controversial Nord Stream gas pipeline to Europe.

Trump recently attacked Germany for being “captive”; to Russian gas. Nearly half of Germany’s natural gas supplied by pipeline came from Russia last year. The U.S. has begun providing gas to Eastern European countries that also depend on Russia, including Lithuania and Poland.

Trump said he reached a deal July 25 with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for Europe to buy more American LNG. However, experts said that European companies would still be responsive to market forces, since Russian gas supplied by pipeline is the cheapest option.

“I don’t think anyone is suggesting that U.S. LNG can replace all of Russian gas,” Banks said. “But the goal here is to help create a competitive market for natural gas and Eastern Europe, which is in everyone’s interest except for the Russians.”

Delays in approving infrastructure, along with trade disputes, threaten to stall projections from S&P Global Energy that U.S. LNG exports could hit more than 8 billion cubic feet per day by 2020 and 12 billion by 2025.

“This is really about the next wave of LNG projects globally and where that gets built,” Munson said. “Lots of places are competing for future supply right now. Buyers have some time to wait and see how things unfold, but very soon, they will need to start jumping in and signing deals and the U.S. wants to make sure it is at the table when it happens.”

To do that, the U.S. has to get its house in order, experts say.

Industry is pressuring FERC to address the permit application backlog. FERC is taking notice.

Chatterjee, the Republican commissioner, this month issued a missive on Twitter proposing solutions to the permitting crunch. Facing a manpower shortage, he said FERC should be able to give pay raises to its lawyers and engineers who review complex LNG export applications. He recommended the commission should open an office in Houston, Texas — the U.S. energy hub — so that employees can live where they work.

“They are just stretched to the max,” Chatterjee told the Washington Examiner. “It's taking longer to approve projects because of the volume of work. FERC has always had a reputation for being best in class when it comes to the permitting process, and I worry about maintaining that reputation if we don't get more efficient.”

FERC Chairman Kevin McIntyre, a Republican, recently said the commission had only one application for an LNG export project in 2011, compared to 15 pending applications today.

“The market for LNG is growing very quickly, faster than what was anticipated for global demand,” said Charlie Riedl, the executive director of the Center for Liquified Natural Gas, a nonprofit trade group. “Being able to enter into the market as demand is increasing facilitates an opportunity for the U.S. to capture that demand. Delays or uncertainty give pause to buyers that would be thinking about the U.S. as an option.”

Riedl said the entire permitting process beginning with pre-filing typically takes five to six years before a facility is built. The Energy Department also reviews LNG export projects.

FERC, the Trump administration, and some lawmakers in Congress are taking steps to speed things up.

FERC has hired outside contractors to help with the permit application backlog. The commission announced this month it is finalizing a policy with the Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to “refine and reduce the permit application review process” for LNG facilities.

And Chatterjee’s Twitter lobbying has proven effective. He encouraged two Texas lawmakers, Reps. Pete Olson, a Republican, and Gene Green, a Democrat, to introduce a bill that would give FERC the authority to pay outside of government pay scales for positions where they have problems attracting talent.

The Energy Department, meanwhile, is planning to speed up the approval process for projects to export small amounts of liquefied natural gas, enabling the agency to automatically approve applications if they are at or below 51.75 billion cubic feet of exports per year, without an environmental review.

“These are important long-term steps, but we need to do more in the near term to get the process moving faster,” Chatterjee said.

The trade fight with China hangs over potential long-term progress for U.S. LNG exports.

China’s demand for LNG is soaring, and it is relying more on the U.S., becoming the third largest destination for American gas behind Mexico and South Korea. Chinese imports of U.S. LNG increased from zero in 2015 to 17 billion cubic feet in 2016, to 103 billion cubic feet last year.

Other countries, including Russia, Qatar, Canada and Mozambique are also offering LNG at competitive rates. Experts and industry say U.S. supply, despite its cheap prices, is replaceable.

“There are other markets in other countries who would be equally interested in taking the U.S. market share,” Riedl said. “We don't think tariffs are a good idea. There are a lot of potential problems on the U.S. doing deals with the Chinese if we are in the middle of a trade war.”

[adrian j boris] 29/7/2018 17:35

France, Spain and Portugal to build gas pipeline for supply of American liquefied gas to EU
Sunday, July 29, 2018 12:00:04 PM

French, Spanish and Portuguese leaders approved the EU decision regarding the supply of liquefied gas from the United States, according to the declaration signed by the three countries after the energy interconnection summit in Lisbon on Friday, July 27.

The countries expressed interested in increasing the supply of the American liquefied gas through seven European ports. In addition, the countries insist on building a gas pipeline for gas to be transported to other European countries.

Madrid and Lisbon already began construction of a gas pipeline in the Catalonia region in the northeast of Spain to complement another gas pipeline that has already been built in the Western Pyrenees and will thus connect Spain and France. Currently, both countries are importing gas from Algeria via a gas pipeline launched in 2011, writes DW.

It is reported that all three countries consider gas as a temporary measure, as they are gradually switching from coal to renewable energy sources. According to the president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, at the moment, 35 percent of imported gas to the European Union comes from the United States.

Earlier, in the trilateral talks on gas transit, Ukraine’s Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom agreed to draft a new contract for the supply of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine after the end of the litigation. Gazprom suggests retaining transit of 10-15 billion cubic meters of gas per year through Ukraine if the Ukrainian side proves to Gazprom the economic feasibility of the new contract.

uawire.org

[sarkasm] 27/7/2018 11:20

EU to build more terminals to import US LNG

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made the announcement during his visit to the White House yesterday
Register now!
By Priyanka Shrestha
Friday 27 July 2018
Image: European Commission

The European Union plans to import more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US to diversify its energy supply.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said more terminals will be built in the region during his visit to the White House this week.

He met with President Donald Trump yesterday to launch a new phase in the relationship between the US and the EU, including strengthening their co-operation on energy.

They also agreed to launch “a close dialogue on standards in order to ease trade, reduce bureaucratic obstacles, and slash costs”.

Mr Juncker said: “We have decided to strengthen our co-operation on energy. The European Uniion will build more terminals to import liquefied natural gas from the US. This is also a message for others. We agree to establish a dialogue on standards.

“And we also agree to work on the reform of the WTO [World Trade Organisation]. This of course if based on the understanding that, as long as we are negotiating, unless one party would stop the negotiations, we hold off further tariffs and we reassess existing tariffs on steel and aluminium.”

[sarkasm] 27/7/2018 10:26

1459/5000
PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones) - Oddo BHF raises its recommendation on GTT from "neutral" to "buy", with a target price of 60 euros instead of 52.20 euros before, due to half-year results higher than expected and the return of a favorable dynamic for new orders. During the first six months of the year, the group delivered 25 vessels, including 24 LNG carriers, with a turnover of 127.2 million euros over the period. Despite a slight decline in the margin rate, mainly caused by the decline in the research tax credit and the non-recurrence of an exceptional product in the first half of 2017, the results appear "largely to the rendezvous" with an Ebitda of 84 , 2 million euros, an increase of 8.8%. In addition, Oddo BHF notes that new orders reached 21 units over the half-year, including 18 LNG carriers, compared to eight over the same period of 2017, a trend that has continued since the beginning of the month with three other orders. The revenue already secured for 2019 thus exceeds 200 million euros, according to the financial intermediary. The ongoing investigations in Korea remain the only downside for the title, adds Oddo BHF. The stock jumped 8.3% to 54.70 euros Friday morning, to a high for more than two months. ([e-mail]) ed: LBO


Agefi-Dow Jones The financial newswire


(END) Dow Jones Newswires


July 27, 2018 04:51 ET (08:51 GMT)

[sarkasm] 27/7/2018 10:26

1459/5000
PARIS (Agefi-Dow Jones) - Oddo BHF raises its recommendation on GTT from "neutral" to "buy", with a target price of 60 euros instead of 52.20 euros before, due to half-year results higher than expected and the return of a favorable dynamic for new orders. During the first six months of the year, the group delivered 25 vessels, including 24 LNG carriers, with a turnover of 127.2 million euros over the period. Despite a slight decline in the margin rate, mainly caused by the decline in the research tax credit and the non-recurrence of an exceptional product in the first half of 2017, the results appear "largely to the rendezvous" with an Ebitda of 84 , 2 million euros, an increase of 8.8%. In addition, Oddo BHF notes that new orders reached 21 units over the half-year, including 18 LNG carriers, compared to eight over the same period of 2017, a trend that has continued since the beginning of the month with three other orders. The revenue already secured for 2019 thus exceeds 200 million euros, according to the financial intermediary. The ongoing investigations in Korea remain the only downside for the title, adds Oddo BHF. The stock jumped 8.3% to 54.70 euros Friday morning, to a high for more than two months. ([e-mail]) ed: LBO


Agefi-Dow Jones The financial newswire


(END) Dow Jones Newswires


July 27, 2018 04:51 ET (08:51 GMT)