Oil and gas is here to stay, according to Atlas Maritime owner Leon Patitsas — a Greek player who has led hundreds of million of dollars worth of investments in tanker newbuildings, at a time when almost nobody was putting money in the sector.
“People now realise that energy security is more important than energy transition,” Patitsas told TradeWinds in an interview.
The Greek owner argued that an expected long-term decoupling of Russia from Western economies in the wake of the war in Ukraine is leading to longer tonne-miles and a favourable business environment for tankers over the next two to three years.
Having ordered aframaxes and LR2 product tankers ahead of the curve, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis and then again in the second half of last year when still only a few people were investing in tankers, Atlas expects to benefit from the early deliveries of its ships in the second half of 2024 and early 2025.
Several rivals have come to the same conclusion and placed tanker newbuilding orders recently, but not in any significant quantity to spoil the market yet, according to the Greek owner.
“Even though we have seen some orders being placed and the orderbook increased, it hasn’t increased to alarming levels yet,” he said.
Patitsas does not rule out diversifying further, in time-honoured, Greek countercyclical fashion on ship types where prices are below historical averages.
“We will look for sectors that have gone down, so dry would be one of them,” he said.
Higher interest rates are not discouraging the Greek owner from pursuing further deals.
According to chief financial officer Christos Zenios, Atlas has a conservative financing strategy with low breakevens and loan-to-value ratios of about 50% to 60%, depending on the employment strategy for each project.
“We want to be moderately leveraged and always protect our and our partners' capital,” Patitsas said.
“We want to be patient and have cash to swiftly execute on the right opportunities,” he added.
