LNG-Tanker Rates Doubling as Ship Glut Erodes: Freight Markets
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Record demand for liquefied natural-gas is causing the decade-long glut of vessels that carry the fuel to disappear, doubling freight rates and at least tripling profit for shipping lines Golar LNG Ltd. and Exmar NV.
Consumption of LNG, liquefied by cooling the gas to about minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit, is rising 5.1 percent at a time when nations from the U.K. to South Korea are increasing curbs on pollution. Natural gas emits about 50 percent less carbon dioxide than coal and power companies are also burning more because it’s cheaper after plunging 30 percent since the end of 2008 while coal rose 52 percent and oil almost doubled.