London’s LNG community came out to learn, mingle and play a little on Thursday as legal firm Stephenson Harwood embraced its deep inner chill.
A third running of the ever-popular “Ice Cold in Moorgate” pulled in faces old and new from the LNG sector, kicking off with an afternoon seminar, followed by some mingling and the hotly contested LNG quiz.
Eager participants — their team leaders identified by polar bear hats — nobly battled their way through four gruelling rounds with questions focused on the Arctic, LNG, the thought-provokingly named “cheese or motorway services” and a general knowledge round.
Spookily, several bear-hatted legal hosts patrolled the room in an effort to stamp out any cheating, watched over by Stephenson Harwood’s long-standing LNG expert, Stuart Beadnall.
Perhaps to be expected, the LNG section brought out the best and possibly the worst in some competitors — particularly the “which owner has the largest fleet” question.
The selection of multiple-choice answers on another about the biggest LNG buyer for 2023 provoked howls of protest from the room, while “the largest exporter to date in 2024” question incited a senior LNG broker to wave a copy of their weekly market report in the air.
But hey — there was even a question about your own favourite shipping publication.
In the end, there was just one point dividing the top three teams.
But there had to be a winner, and it was the carefully crafted but perhaps rather painfully named “GARDian of the LNG Galaxy” team, who each won a fluffy penguin and something liquid to remind them — if they needed it — of all things LNG.
LNG quizzing could just catch on.
