Shipowner Golar LNG is set to focus its attention further upstream and downstream along the production chain as it develops its business.
“LNG is good business for years to come,” chairman Tor Olav Troim told TradeWinds.
But he added: “The big money will be in owning the reserves and supplying the customer at the other end. That is what we are trying to get to.”
Troim said LNG shipping remains at the core of what Golar does today.
However, he said: “The expected return on that business is probably lower than what I expect to make on the other things. We will certainly not invest a lot more through this side.”
He recognises that rates for LNG shipping have been rising, with the market set for a healthy period.
“Of course, now it looks like we are going to have two to three fantastic years ahead of us,” Troim said. “That leads to the fact that all the banks will come to the party and other owners will add a lot more [vessels].”
New York-listed Golar put its first floating LNG unit, the Hilli Episeyo, into operation off Cameroon in May. The unit has exported nine cargoes.
The company is closing in on a second FLNG unit project for BP and Kosmos’ Tortue project in Mauritania and Senegal, which is due to be sanctioned this year.
The company is also positioning to use its floating storage and regasification units in the emerging gas-to-power sector starting with the Sergipe Power Plant project in Brazil.
