Searching for Solid Investments in LNG, Humpuss Funding Co. and Osprey Maritime

by Geoff Uttmark

As the expression goes, it is an ill wind that does not blow some good. Hence the recent nuclear accident in Taikomura, Japan is likely to push the energy resources poor industrial giant further in the direction of LNG to refuel its economy. This is a very Asian business proposition, chock full of “mutual benefit” for LNG exporters and for some of Japan’s largest shipyards. Hitachi, IHI, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi and Mitsui are all members of the most elite commercial shipbuilding club in the world. Any discussion of LNG these days must start with Japan, which represents almost sixty percent of total global consumption, but that is not the end of the story. As the statistics in Figure 1 attest, Japan may be the world’s biggest LNG importer, but the dizzying growth rates in demand belong to the two other major Asian importers, namely, South Korea and the Republic of China. And other economies in the Indo-Pacific region, such as India, PRC, Thailand and the Philippines, are just beginning to move from flirting with LNG to serious courtship. It is clear in retrospect that LNG was the dietary mother’s milk that grew some of the “tiger cub” economies so quickly.

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