AsiaGas

Epic Gas puts older gas carriers in the shop window

In revealing its full year results today Singapore’s Epic Gas has let it be known it is keen to offload its older, smaller pressurized gas carriers as they struggle to gain business from energy majors.

Epic Gas, which registered revenues of $130.3m and a net loss of $5.9m for 2015, commented in a release: “Given the challenging environment for the smallest pressure vessels, Epic Gas has proactively sought to manage down its exposure to the smallest, oldest vessels in our fleet.”

While a pressurised gas carrier can operate past 30 years, a vessel’s utility on the international market declines dramatically as vessels approach 20 years of age, the company noted.

“With age, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the vessels up to the oil major vetting standards required to trade in our markets,” noted the company, which counts former Pacific Basin founders Chris Buttery and Paul Over among senior management.

Last March Epic Gas s sold 18- and 19-year-old assets into the Southeast Asian cabotage market, and in December it redelivered a 15-year-old bareboat chartered vessel.

“We continue to monitor the market for additional opportunities to sell assets where the sale would help improve the profitability of our business and further accelerate the transformation of our fleet,” Epic Gas added.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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