BG LNG profit falls 12% in Q3

The UK company BG Group announced that its LNG Shipping and Marketing total operating profit decreased 12% to US$ 602 million, mainly due to the impact of fewer cargo deliveries and reduced margins.

During the third quarter, BG delivered 44 liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes, six fewer than in Q3 last year. This included two fewer cargoes from Egypt and three fewer from Nigeria as a result of disruptions during the July to September period.

Cargo deliveries comprised 32 to Asia, 10 to South America, one to the US and one to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In comparison, deliveres in Q3 2012 comprised a total of 50 cargoes, with 31 to Asia, eight to South America, six to the US, four to Europe and one to the UAE.

Throughout the January to September nine-month period, the company’s LNG total operating profit decreased 3% to US$ 1865 million. BG delivered 132 LNG cargoes, 17 fewer than in 2012.

Commenting on the results, CEO Chris Finlayson said: “[Total] earnings in the quarter were down 4% to US$ 1.1 billion, largely as a result of lower volumes in both the upstream and LNG segments”.

Looking to future developments, Finlayson continued: “We are currently advancing four new LNG supply projects, and as the projects mature we will look for opportunities to manage our capital commitments through partnering. Working with the Block 2 partners in Tanzania, we have submitted our proposal for the LNG plant site for consideration by the government. Additionally, we made good progress with the Lake Charles LNG export project where the Department of Energy gave conditional approval for exports to non-free trade agreement countries and where we signed an agreement with Energy Transfer to develop the terminal.”

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/04112013/bg_lng_profit_falls_371/