Gas Shipping Rates Seen Rising 67% After Quake: Freight Markets

The cost of shipping liquefied natural gas may advance 67 percent to a five-year high as Japan replaces its crippled nuclear industry with power plants burning fossil fuels.
LNG-tanker rates will average $100,000 a day in the fourth quarter from about $60,000 this quarter, according to Oyvind Hagen, an analyst at ABG Sundal Collier in Oslo, whose team’s share recommendations returned 16 percent in six months. Analysts covering Golar LNG Ltd., which operates 13 of the vessels, raised their 2011 earnings estimates by 24 percent in four weeks, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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Source: Bloomberg