LONDON: The Trinity Arrow liquefied natural gas tanker has docked in Kuwait to unload the cargo of LNG it loaded in Belgium in mid march, AIS Live ship tracking data on Reuters showed on Monday.
Loading at Belgium’s Zeebrugge terminal for re-export to more lucrative markets is a recent development in the increasingly global LNG trade, but some market observers expect more cargoes to follow this summer.
LNG analysts believe the tanker, which can hold 154,000 cubic meters of LNG, is delivering LNG for energy trader Vitol under new a four-year deal to supply Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) for the summer months of April to October from 2010 to 2013.
The vessel took a long detour around the southern tip of Africa on its voyage from north-west Europe, including anchoring off the coast of South Africa for several days, rather than taking the much shorter passage through the Suez Canal. Vitol declined to comment on the shipment.
The price of gas has fallen significantly in north-west Europe over the last year due to lower demand in the economic downturn and plentiful supply.
Kuwait’s Mina Al Ahmadi terminal, which has the capacity to deliver more than 500 mmcf per day of gas into the Kuwaiti grid, began operations in August last year.
