Enterprise Products Partners has so far secured contracts for 75% of its 1 million tons/year capacity of its ethylene export terminal on the Houston Ship Channel on a take-or-pay basis. Meanwhile, Navigator Gas, which owns a 50% stake in the partnership, said it did not foresee the coronavirus pandemic uncertainty would cause operational disruptions that would force a writedown on the investment.
Navigator also said it had not seen any "significant" decrease in charter costs caused by the pandemic. However, it noted that vessel utilization had fallen to mid-80% levels, the lowest since mid-2019, and compared to 96.3% in December and 97.3% in January. The London-based company attributed the vessel utilization to customers' caution in inventory management and consumption.
Navigator is a transportation and distribution service provider for oil majors, chemical companies, to energy trading companies. It expected these customers to be able to pay charter rates until six to 12 months ahead.
Navigator registered a net loss of $2.8 million in Q4 2019, improving from $3.9 million net loss in the corresponding quarter in 2018. The ethylene terminal shipped out its first export cargo, about 11,300 tons, to China, aboard the Navigator Europa on January 2.
