Saudi Aramco Bahri shelved charter plan for 12 LNG carriers!

Introduction: Last year, Saudi Aramco ’s shipping company Bahri announced that it had signed a letter of intent expressing its intention to lease 12 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers from 2025. This is the company ’s first entry into the ultra-low temperature fuel field.

However, Bahri's partner Sempra Energy has decided to postpone its LNG investment plan.

It is reported that a latest report by Reuters Singapore said that after Sempra Energy delayed its LNG export project in Texas, Saudi Aramco ’s shipping company Bahri will shelve its supporting Up to 12 liquefied natural gas (LNG) charter plans.

As Saudi Aramco ’s oil giant in the country, Bahri will become part of a major global player program in the natural gas market. Bahri issued a letter of intent last year expressing interest in leasing 12 LNG vessels from 2025.

It is understood that the current cost of a 174,000 cubic meter LNG carrier is about US $ 185 million.

In May last year, Saudi Aramco signed a 20-year agreement to purchase liquefied natural gas from the Port of Arthur built by Sempra Energy and agreed to purchase a 25% stake in the first phase of this multi-billion dollar project.

However, Sempra Energy said this month that the global demand for energy has dropped significantly due to the new coronavirus pandemic, and the company postponed the project's decision until 2021.

The source believes that it is wise to postpone the shipping plan related to this LNG at this stage. Saudi Aramco declined to comment.

An industry source said that since the outbreak of the new coronavirus, the price of LNG has plummeted to a record low, which may make financing more difficult. Saudi Aramco may be more cautious about its natural gas investment in the future.

According to Bahri's official website, Saudi Arabia's national shipping company has 6 business units operating in petroleum, chemicals, logistics, dry bulk, ship management and data, and has 90 vessels, including 43 very large crude oil carriers (VLCCs) And 36 chemical / product tankers.

In fact, for this project, Saudi Aramco has hired an LNG executive in Singapore to develop the business. So far, an agreement has been reached to supply LNG to Bangladesh and even Pakistan.

Among them, the US Sempra Energy (SRE.US) mentioned above announced the first quarter of 2020 results before the US stock market on May 4.

The revenue was US $ 760 million, compared with US $ 441 million in the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 72.34%. The diluted earnings per share were US $ 2.53, compared with US $ 1.59 in the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 59.12%.

Bahri ’s latest quarterly financial report shows that total revenue for the quarter increased to 2.08 billion Saudi Arabian rials (1 Saudi Arabian rial ≈ 0.27 US dollars) equivalent to 554 million US dollars, an increase of 22.06 from the 1.7 billion Saudi Arabian rials in the same period last year %, An increase of 7.36% from the 1.94 billion riyals in the fourth quarter of 2019. The total shareholders' equity is 9.63 billion Saudi Arabian riyals, and the profit per share is 1.06 Saudi Arabian rials.