Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras held a working meeting yesterday with Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom's Management Committee, in which they discussed the prospects for the Russian-Greek cooperation deepening in the energy sector as well as the current status of the Greek energy industry.

StelthGas has placed an order for two LPG carriers, according to the latest Intermodal market report. The order has been placed at Kyokuyo, Japan with delivery expected 05-06/2014. The reported price is set at USD 22 million. Greeks have also been busy in the secondhand market, making moves for containerships this week.

Greek owner StealthGas is seeking to invest in LPG fleet on a prospect that LPG market would expand in the near future. Harry Vafias, chief executive of StealthGas, said the US' shale gas export will be a 'game changer', forecasting LPG exports topping 5m ton in 2013 and 7m ton in 2014.

Monte Carlo based Gestion and US based Scorpio books 10 product carriers at HMD. The latter got a total of 26 product carriers on order. We have to go back to 2003 to find lower prices for similar MRs. Although a very stable sideways moving price development over the last 6 months, it seems we have reached something that resembles a bottom.

Rising demand has prompted owners to order more and larger LPG vessels, according to the latest LPG Forecaster from Drewry Maritime Research. The increased demand has been further improved by a growing consumption base in emerging economies, with supply bolstered by an expected emergence of new export sources, notably the US and the Russia.

Angola's state oil firm Sonangol has teamed up with a Trafigura joint venture DT Group to set up a global LNG trading desk, Trafigura said in a statement on Thursday. The new company Sonaci will market both Angola's new LNG exports and cargoes sourced on the international market, the statement said.

Fearnleys Weekly notes the sale of tanker vessel Atlantic Lombardia (35.841 - 2000) to Greek buyers for USD 10,30 million. The report also mentions the acquisition of bulk carrier Nikkei Tiger (45.363 - 1997) by Greeks for a reported USD 8,10 million. In the newbuilding market, it appears the Lunar holidays put a natural damper on new confirmed shipbuilding contracts.

Japan marked the highest monthly record of LNG imports in January with around 8.2m ton. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident occurred in March 2011, sharply increasing demand for LNG caused LNG-receiving terminals to operate at full capacity.