Cruise

Carnival Corp. has struck an agreement with Shell Western LNG B.V. to be its supplier of marine liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power what it claims are to be the world’s first fully LNG-powered cruise ships. Shell will initially supply Carnival’s AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises brands with fuel for two new LNG-powered ships expected to launch in 2019 with itineraries visiting popular northwest European and Mediterranean ports. The ships will use Shell’s infrastructure in cruise ports to refuel with LNG throughout their itineraries. The vessels, equipped with dual-fuel engines, are the first of a new generation of cruise ships fully powered by LNG both while in port and at sea — an industry first, Carnival said (see Daily GPI,Sept. 7). As part of the framework agreement, Carnival Corp. and Shell have the opportunity to partner together on supplying marine LNG fuel to future LNG-powered vessels or additional itineraries. The overarching agreement enables each Carnival brand to negotiate individual LNG supply contracts with Shell as new LNG-powered cruise ships begin to launch in coming years.

It wasn’t as bad as it might have been. That was the most optimistic assessment of Hurricane Irene’s (gradually being downgraded) weekend cruise along the Atlantic Seaboard. Most points continued to weaken a bit Monday as the impact of lost power generation load along the East Coast was being felt, but residual pockets of high heat resulted in quite a few flat to higher numbers.

U.S. onshore natural gas production is on cruise control, but the economy, and commodity prices, are in reverse. The result: more than a few fender benders as exploration and production (E&P) companies issue quarterly earnings reports in the coming days.

U.S. onshore natural gas production is on cruise control, but the economy, and commodity prices, are in reverse. The result: more than a few fender benders as exploration and production (E&P) companies begin issuing quarterly earnings reports this week.