Rates to ship liquefied natural gas rose as increased bookings cut the supply of available vessels, according to Morgan Stanley. Four ships were chartered in the past week, adding to six in the prior 14-day period, Fotis Giannakoulis, a New York-based analyst at the investment bank, said in an e-mailed report.

Fleet usage for the 371 ships carrying liquefied natural gas will slide in 2013 and 2014 from a six-year high as demand growth slows and the supply of new vessels expands, DVB Bank SE (DVB) said. Ship yards will build LNG carriers with combined capacity of 8.3 million cubic meters, or about 16 percent of the existing fleet, during the next two years, the bank’s Rotterdam-based research and strategic planning unit said in an e-mailed report today.

Teekay LNG Partners L.P. announced that it has entered into an agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering CO., LTD., (DSME) of South Korea for the construction of two 173,400 cubic meter Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier newbuildings, with options to order up to three additional vessels.

Gas tanker owners face falling profits over the next few years as delays to Australian gas project leave new ships unemployed, though the tankers will earn more than other commercial vessels at least until 2016, brokers and analysts said.

Some activity on the tanker side this week, Fearnleys Weekly notes. US based Scorpio Tankers declaring options at HMD, at the same time placing new MR orders at SPP. Prices remain stable as we enter the last few weeks of 2012.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries began construction of the first ship in its "Sayaendo" Series, which it has developed as a new-generation liquefied natural gas carrier, at the company's Nagasaki Shipyard & Machinery Works. The LNG carrier is one of two ships ordered jointly by Osaka Gas and MOL in October 2011.

Qatar, the world’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas, will reduce spot-market sales of the fuel by at least 40 percent by 2014, curbing supplies available for Europe, state-controlled Qatar National Bank (QNBK) said.

Norway, Europe's second-largest gas supplier after Russia, is nearing the limits of its exports as its pipelines are almost fully utilised and no major new fields are coming online soon, the head of its gas system operator Gassco said. The Nordic country supplies about a fifth of the gas consumed in Europe and Britain has been increasingly dependent on Norwegian supply as its own reserves are falling by an average of more than five percent a year.

The liquefied natural gas market may have a surplus of ships in 2014 and 2015 as new vessels join the fleet faster than production plants are completed, according to Hoegh LNG AS, owner of seven carriers. There are 78 ships on order, amounting to 21 percent of the existing fleet, the Hamilton, Bermuda-based Hoegh said in its quarterly report.