全球LNG海运视野

The shipping view of LNG

液化天然气供应量持续走低，液化天然气运输船队的规模却将持续增长。事实上，如果所有液化天然气项目计划都能顺利实施，所需的运输船将远远超过目前的订造量。

The LNG shipping market is facing tough times. Trade has declined and supply has stagnated, while the fleet continues to grow. On the other hand, provisional estimates suggest that LNG imports by Europe declined by 23% over the year because of lower demand and increased reliance on piped gas. Latin America, along with emerging Asia is expected to be the lead drivers of LNG demand in future as Canada and the US have ambitious plans for putting up liquefaction facilities. LNG trade, and demand for LNG carriers, might depend primarily on demand for natural gas and price of piped gas. Importing LNG, or producing natural gas domestically, or shipping out the domestically produced gas, is expected to depend largely on imports of piped gas. However, LNG shipping demand is expected to remain unaffected in the medium term in spite of these developments. Therefore, Drewry has calculated the demand for LNG carriers on the basis of liquefaction capacity addition plans based on shale gas, and also foresees that successful exploitation of shale gas will be limited largely to Australia, the US and Canada during 2014-18.