FLEX LNG Ltd (FLNG) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hi, everybody. I'm Oystein Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG. And today, we are presenting our second quarter numbers. I will be joined today by our CFO, Knut Traaholt, who will walk you through the financials a bit later in the presentation. Before we begin, I would just also mention, we do have a Q&A session at the end of the presentation, where you can send in your questions, either using the chat function or sending an e-mail to ir@flexlng.com. And if you have the best question for today, we do have some gifts for you. So gift #1 is our Flex LNG boiler suit. We just completed the talking of 4 of our ships. So -- and these are very nice when you do some improvements on maintenance, so you can have it while doing some home improvements. We also have the new Just Flex It running T-shirt, which we will be using in Oslo Marathon next month. And lastly, we have a new edition of Flex LNG sunglasses. So I hope you do send in some good questions. It's always the most fun part of these presentations.

大家好。我是 Flex LNG 首席執行官 Oystein Kalleklev。今天，我們將公佈第二季度的數據。今天我們的首席財務官 Knut Traaholt 也將加入我的行列，他將在稍後的演示中向您介紹財務狀況。在開始之前，我還想提一下，我們在演示結束時有一個問答環節，您可以使用聊天功能或發送電子郵件至 ir@flexlng.com 來提出您的問題。如果您有今天最好的問題，我們確實為您準備了一些禮物。因此，禮物 #1 是我們的 Flex LNG 鍋爐套裝。我們剛剛完成了對四艘船的討論。因此，當您對維護進行一些改進時，這些非常好，因此您可以在進行一些家居改進時擁有它。我們還有新款 Just Flex It 跑步 T 卹，我們將在下個月的奧斯陸馬拉鬆比賽中使用它。最後，我們推出了新版 Flex LNG 太陽鏡。所以我希望你能提出一些好的問題。它始終是這些演示中最有趣的部分。

So before I begin, I will also highlight our disclaimer. We will be providing some forward-looking statements in this presentation. We will be using some non-GAAP measures as TC and adjusted numbers. And of course, we cannot cover everything in detail during this short presentation. So we would also like you to highlight the fact you can read our earnings release, which we also presented today.

因此，在開始之前，我還要強調我們的免責聲明。我們將在本演示文稿中提供一些前瞻性陳述。我們將使用一些非 GAAP 衡量標準作為 TC 和調整後的數字。當然，我們無法在這個簡短的演示中詳細介紹所有內容。因此，我們還希望您強調這樣一個事實：您可以閱讀我們今天也發布的收益報告。

So let's kick off with the highlights. So let's begin with the highlights. Revenues for the quarter came in at $86.7 million, in line with our guidance of $85 million to $90 million. This resulted in strong earnings, $39 million, translating into $0.73 per share. Adjusted net income, where we only include the realized gains on derivatives, not the unrealized gains, came in at $28.2 million or $0.53 per share. During the quarter, we carried out drydocking of 3 ships according to time and budget. And that means we have completed the drydocking schedule for the year, with 4 ships being drydocked in the first half of the year. These 3 drydockings in the second quarter was then the main reason why we have lower revenues in Q2 compared to Q1. But with all ships back in operation from the second half of the year, we are reaffirming our revenue guidance of $90 million to $95 million in the third quarter. And somewhat higher expectation in Q4, $90 million to $100 million, depending a bit on how strong the spot market will be for the ship we have on variable hire time charter.

那麼讓我們從亮點開始吧。那麼讓我們從亮點開始吧。本季度收入為 8670 萬美元，符合我們 8500 萬至 9000 萬美元的指導。這帶來了強勁的收益，達到 3900 萬美元，每股收益為 0.73 美元。調整後淨利潤為 2820 萬美元，即每股 0.53 美元，其中我們僅包括衍生品的已實現收益，而不包括未實現收益。本季度，我們按照時間和預算對3艘船進行了乾塢。這意味著我們已經完成了今年的干塢計劃，上半年有4艘船完成了乾塢。第二季度的這 3 次幹塢是我們第二季度收入低於第一季度的主要原因。但隨著所有船舶從今年下半年開始恢復運營，我們重申第三季度 9000 萬至 9500 萬美元的收入指導。第四季度的預期較高，為 9000 萬美元至 1 億美元，這在一定程度上取決於我們採用可變租期租船的船舶現貨市場的強勁程度。

So with that, we are reaffirming also the revenue guidance for the year, $370 million and adjusted EBITDA of somewhere between $290 million to $295 million. We are also today pleased to announce that Cheniere has expected -- extended the Flex Vigilant Time Charter from end of 2030 into middle of 2031. As some of you might recall, we did an extension of 3 ships with Cheniere last year where they had this early option to extend that ship by 200 days and then get our option to extend a further 3 years. So in total today, we have 55 years of minimum firm backlog, which can be extended up to 8 years if charters are utilizing all our extension options.

因此，我們還重申今年的收入指引為 3.7 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 2.9 億至 2.95 億美元之間。我們今天還很高興地宣布，Cheniere 預計將 Flex Vigilant 期租從 2030 年底延長至 2031 年中期。你們中的一些人可能還記得，我們去年與 Cheniere 一起延長了 3 艘船的期限，他們有早期選擇將船舶延期200 天，然後我們選擇再延長3 年。因此，今天我們總共有 55 年的公司積壓，如果租船公司利用我們所有的延期選項，則可以延長至 8 年。

So with a very healthy backlog, a strong financial position with $450 million of cash and no debt maturities prior 2028, after all the refinancing we just carried out, we, therefore, should come as no surprise that the Board is declaring a dividend of $0.75 per share for the second quarter. This brings the dividend the last 12 months to $3.25 per share and yield of about 10%. So as I mentioned, we've been busy doing drydockings this year. We docked Flex Endeavour in March, Singapore. We did our sister ship, Flex Enterprise, in Singapore in April. And then we had 2 ships -- the sister ships Ranger and Rainbow docking in June. Ranger in Denmark and Rainbow in Singapore.

因此，在我們剛剛進行了所有再融資之後，積壓訂單非常健康，財務狀況強勁，擁有4.5 億美元的現金，並且2028 年之前沒有債務到期，因此，董事會宣布派發0.75 美元的股息就不足為奇了。第二季度每股。這使得過去 12 個月的股息達到每股 3.25 美元，收益率約為 10%。正如我所提到的，我們今年一直忙於乾塢工作。我們於 3 月在新加坡停靠 Flex Endeavor。我們四月份在新加坡建造了我們的姊妹船 Flex Enterprise。然後我們有兩艘船——姐妹船遊俠號和彩虹號於六月對接。丹麥的 Ranger 和新加坡的 Rainbow。

We guided in our Q4 presentation that we expected these drydockings to take somewhere between 80 to 90 days. And we ended up at 77 days. So we're slightly ahead of our guidance on time. CapEx, also in line with estimate about $20 million of CapEx associated with these 4 drydockings. And with that, we don't have any more drydockings for the remainder of the year. As mentioned, we will have 2 drydockings next year, probably 4 in '25, 3 in 2026, and then we have a holiday in 2027 with 0 drydocking schedule for that year.

我們在第四季度的演示中指出，我們預計這些幹船塢將需要 80 到 90 天的時間。我們最終完成了 77 天。所以我們在時間上稍微提前了我們的指導。資本支出，也符合與這 4 個乾船塢相關的約 2000 萬美元資本支出的估計。這樣一來，今年剩下的時間裡我們就不再進行幹船塢了。如前所述，我們明年將進行 2 次幹塢，可能是 2025 年 4 次，2026 年 3 次，然後我們在 2027 年放假，當年的干塢時間表為 0。

So this slide is the same slide you saw last quarter, we are just reaffirming the guidance of the year, $370 million of expected revenues. We had $92.5 million or so in Q1, slightly lower in Q2 because of the 3 drydockings and also because somewhat softer spot market impacting the ship we have on variable hire time charter. With all ships back in operation, we expect revenues to jump in Q3, somewhere between $90 million to $95 million and then a bit more variability in Q4 as spot market can really take off, especially when we look at the winter coverage fixtures being done recently. So we expect somewhere between $90 million to $100 million of revenues in Q4, and that, in total, should be around $370 million.

因此，這張幻燈片與您上個季度看到的幻燈片是同一張幻燈片，我們只是重申了今年的指導，即預期收入 3.7 億美元。我們第一季度的收入約為 9250 萬美元，第二季度略有下降，因為 3 次幹船塢，而且現貨市場有些疲軟影響了我們採用可變租期租船的船舶。隨著所有船舶恢復運營，我們預計第三季度的收入將猛增，在9000 萬美元至9500 萬美元之間，然後第四季度的變化會更大，因為現貨市場可以真正起飛，特別是當我們看到最近正在進行的冬季覆蓋固定裝置時。因此，我們預計第四季度的收入將在 9000 萬至 1 億美元之間，總計應在 3.7 億美元左右。

So -- and you also see that the revenues are higher than last year, where we recorded about $348 million of revenues. And that's despite the fact that we are taking 4 ships during drydocking this year, and it's driven by the fact that we have repriced the portfolio of ships and expect the time charter equivalent earnings this year to be around $80,000, which is higher than last year.

因此，您還可以看到收入高於去年，去年我們的收入約為 3.48 億美元。儘管我們今年在幹塢期間接收了 4 艘船，但這是由於我們重新定價了船舶組合，並預計今年期租等效收入約為 80,000 美元，高於去年。

So looking at the portfolio of backlog. As mentioned, Flex Vigilant extended from end of 2030 to the middle of 2031. And as you can see, we have substantial backlog with 54 years of minimum contract backlog. We have these 2 stars. That's our first open -- fully open ships, Flex Ranger, which was recently docked. She's open in Q2 2027, and the Flex Constellation in the middle of 2027. I will come back to this later in the presentation. These are very attractive positions when you are comparing to the term rates and new billing prices for ships for delivery at 2027 and onwards. So once we have finalized marketing of these ships, we will move forward to the next open position, which is Flex Aurora and Flex Volunteer, which are fixed to Cheniere, with redelivery early 2028, if they exercise the options for the ships, which we do expect them to do. We do, in general, think that a lot of these options will be declared, given where the term rates are heading.

所以看看積壓的投資組合。如前所述，Flex Vigilant 從 2030 年底延長到 2031 年中。正如您所看到的，我們有大量積壓訂單，最低合同積壓量為 54 年。我們有這兩顆星。這是我們第一艘完全開放的船隻 Flex Ranger，最近剛剛停靠。她將於 2027 年第二季度開業，Flex Constellation 將於 2027 年中期開業。我將在稍後的演示中再次討論這一點。當您與 2027 年及以後交付的船舶的期限費率和新計費價格進行比較時，這些都是非常有吸引力的位置。因此，一旦我們完成了這些船舶的營銷工作，我們將轉向下一個空缺職位，即 Flex Aurora 和 Flex Volunteer，這些船舶固定在 Cheniere，如果他們行使船舶的選擇權，我們將在 2028 年初重新交付。確實期望他們這樣做。總的來說，我們確實認為，考慮到期限利率的走向，許多這樣的選擇將會被宣布。

As you can see, we also have then on the bottom half Flex Artemis, the only ship that's on a variable hire time charter, where the rate is adjusted according to the conditions of the spot market. And the spot market looks very strong for the second half of the year, and that's why we have a bit bigger range in expected revenues in Q4 compared to Q3. Looking at this slide, we have used this a couple of times, just looking at where our adjusted earnings per share is $0.53 for this quarter. Last 12 months, it's been about $3 per share. Ordinary dividend's been $3.

正如您所看到的，我們在下半部分還有 Flex Artemis，這是唯一一艘採用可變租期租船的船舶，其費率根據現貨市場的情況進行調整。下半年現貨市場看起來非常強勁，這就是為什麼我們對第四季度的預期收入比第三季度的預期範圍更大的原因。看看這張幻燈片，我們已經使用了幾次，只是看看本季度調整後的每股收益為 0.53 美元。過去 12 個月，每股股價約為 3 美元。普通股息為 3 美元。

And then we have paid out a couple of special dividends given the very strong financial position of the company, the last 12 months, then we are down from the $3.75 per share of running dividend to $3.25, but still a comfortable level and giving our investors a 10% running yield. The decision factors we also covered in great details in the past. Q2 is, of course, usually the softest quarter in terms of the earnings on the spot ships. But as you can see, most of these colors are green, as I explained the reasons for already. So with that, we will jump into the key financial highlights, Knut?

然後，考慮到公司在過去12 個月中非常強勁的財務狀況，我們支付了幾次特別股息，然後我們將股息從每股3.75 美元下調至3.25 美元，但仍然是一個舒適的水平，為我們的投資者提供了便利10% 的運行收益率。我們過去也詳細介紹了決策因素。當然，就現貨船收益而言，第二季度通常是最疲軟的季度。但正如您所看到的，大多數顏色都是綠色，正如我已經解釋過的原因。那麼接下來，我們將進入關鍵的財務亮點，克努特？

Thank you, Oystein. Let's have a look at the key financial highlights for the quarter. Revenues came in at $86.7 million and was impacted by that 57 days of scheduled drydock of the 3 vessels in the second quarter. It's also impacted by seasonal lower earnings of the variable hire contract for the Flex Artemis. On the operating expenses, we see a slight increase this quarter to $17.3 million. And this is explained by timing effects of spares and maintenance. Last quarter, we were a bit below budget. And this quarter, we have paid some of those OpExes. So OpEx per day is $14,600. But if you look at the first half of the year, the average OpEx per day is at $14,000. Interest rates continue to increase. So we have an increase of interest expenses to $27.2 million. However, this is offset by a gain on derivatives of $17.1 million. Included in that is realized gains of $6.2 million versus $5 million in the first quarter.

謝謝你，奧伊斯坦。讓我們看一下本季度的主要財務亮點。收入為 8670 萬美元，受到第二季度 3 艘船計劃停泊 57 天的影響。它還受到 Flex Artemis 可變租賃合同收入季節性下降的影響。在運營支出方面，我們預計本季度略有增加至 1730 萬美元。這可以通過備件和維護的時間效應來解釋。上個季度，我們的預算略低於預算。本季度，我們支付了其中一些運營支出。因此每天的運營支出為 14,600 美元。但如果你看看今年上半年，每天的平均運營支出為 14,000 美元。利率繼續上升。因此，我們的利息支出增加至 2720 萬美元。然而，這被 1710 萬美元的衍生品收益所抵消。其中包括 620 萬美元的已實現收益，而第一季度為 500 萬美元。

And if you look at the comments on this slide, we also then compare with the first half of the year. So we see we have realized gains of $11.2 million versus a loss of $2.4 million last year. So despite the rapid increase in interest rates, we see the positive effect of our hedging strategy, where the net paid interest is only $10 million higher despite the rapid increase in the interest rate levels.

如果你看看這張幻燈片上的評論，我們也會與上半年進行比較。因此我們看到我們實現了 1120 萬美元的收益，而去年則虧損了 240 萬美元。因此，儘管利率快速上升，我們還是看到了對沖策略的積極效果，儘管利率水平快速上升，但淨支付利息僅增加了 1000 萬美元。

Last quarter, we completed the balance sheet optimization program, and therefore, also booked the write-off of debt issuance cost of $10 million. So that's no longer applicable this quarter. So for the second quarter, we end up with a net income of $39 million or $0.73 per share. And adjusting for the unrealized gains on derivatives, we end up with adjusted net income of $28.2 million. And that results in adjusted earnings per share of $0.53. Looking at the balance sheet, it's still robust and clean. There are 2 main components. It's cash of $450 million and our vessels, the 13 vessels with an average age of 3.6 years, with a book value of about $2.3 billion. That gives an equity of $870 million on solid equity ratio of 31%.

上季度，我們完成了資產負債表優化計劃，因此還沖銷了1000萬美元的債務發行成本。因此，這在本季度不再適用。因此，第二季度我們的淨利潤為 3900 萬美元，即每股 0.73 美元。調整衍生品的未實現收益後，我們最終的調整後淨利潤為 2820 萬美元。調整後每股收益為 0.53 美元。看看資產負債表，它仍然穩健而乾淨。有 2 個主要組成部分。其中包括 4.5 億美元的現金和我們的船隻，這 13 艘船的平均船齡為 3.6 年，賬面價值約為 23 億美元。其股本為 8.7 億美元，固定股本比率為 31%。

If we look at the cash flow statement for the quarter, we have $47.5 million in cash flow from operations and $9 million in change in working capital. We had $16 million in drydock expenses and then amortized about $26 million. We paid out last quarter, $0.75 per share in dividends, resulting in $40 million. And we end up then with a solid cash position of $450 million.

如果我們查看本季度的現金流量表，我們的運營現金流量為 4750 萬美元，營運資金變化為 900 萬美元。我們有 1600 萬美元的干船塢費用，然後攤銷約 2600 萬美元。上季度我們支付了每股 0.75 美元的股息，總計 4000 萬美元。我們最終擁有了 4.5 億美元的穩固現金狀況。

Having a deeper look into our interest rate portfolio. We have made no changes to the derivatives during the quarter. So we maintain a high hedge ratio of 62% to 65% in the coming quarters. It's a mix of SOFR-based interest rate swaps and LIBOR-based swaps. As LIBOR has exceeded to be -- [ceased] to be quoted, these LIBOR swaps will transition into SOFR swaps during the third quarter. If we look at the components here, we have $820 million of swaps. And then we also have $201 million of fixed rate leases in the portfolio. So on the interest rate swaps, these are valued today at $58.7 million on our balance sheet, and provides a solid hedge in the coming quarters and also cost visibility.

更深入地了解我們的利率投資組合。本季度我們沒有對衍生品進行任何更改。因此，我們在未來幾個季度維持62%至65%的高對沖比率。它是基於 SOFR 的利率掉期和基於 LIBOR 的掉期的組合。由於 LIBOR 已超過 - [停止]報價，這些 LIBOR 掉期將在第三季度轉變為 SOFR 掉期。如果我們看一下這裡的組成部分，就會發現我們有 8.2 億美元的掉期。此外，我們的投資組合中還有 2.01 億美元的固定利率租賃。因此，就利率掉期而言，目前我們資產負債表上的價值為 5870 萬美元，並在未來幾個季度提供了可靠的對沖和成本可見性。

Looking at our funding portfolio. In Q1, we concluded the balance sheet optimization program. The funding portfolio is then consisting of about 50% of long-term leases and 50% of debt, which is split in term loans, and a $400 million non-amortizing revolving credit facility. The revolver gives us flexibility for cash management when we have a cash position of $450 million, which means that we can repay the RCF at any point in time and therefore, also reduce interest rate cost.

看看我們的融資組合。一季度，我們完成了資產負債表優化方案。融資組合包括約 50% 的長期租賃和 50% 的債務（分為定期貸款）以及 4 億美元的非攤銷循環信貸額度。當我們擁有4.5億美元的現金頭寸時，左輪手槍為我們提供了現金管理的靈活性，這意味著我們可以隨時償還RCF，因此也降低了利率成本。

The maturity profile is pushed out. First maturity is in 2028. And as you see here, it's spread out, with the last maturity in 2035, subject that -- we exercised a 2-year extension option on that financing. This portfolio is provided by a diverse and strong and supporting group of banks. It's split out in various regions. So we have banks from the U.S., from Europe and then also increased our exposure in Asia. So this gives us a rock-solid foundation to support the company coming further.

成熟度概況被推出。第一個到期日是 2028 年。正如您在這裡看到的，它是分散的，最後一個到期日是 2035 年，但我們對該融資行使了 2 年延期選擇權。該投資組合由多元化、實力雄厚、支持性的銀行集團提供。它分佈在各個地區。因此，我們擁有來自美國、歐洲的銀行，然後還增加了我們在亞洲的風險敞口。因此，這為我們支持公司進一步發展奠定了堅實的基礎。

And with that, I hand it over to Oystein for an update on the market.

然後，我將其交給 Oystein 以獲取市場最新信息。

Okay. Thank you, Knut. So let's have a look at the markets, starting with the volumes. So these are the volumes from January to end of July. In that period, we see that the export growth is about 3%. U.S. was flat in Q1 due to a shutdown of Freeport, but with Freeport up and running again, U.S. volumes are increasing and are the main contributor to volume growth. We have also had shutdowns in Norway, and Norway is back exporting. So they are also adding $1.6 million, same as Algeria.

好的。謝謝你，克努特。因此，讓我們從交易量開始看一下市場。這些是一月到七月底的捲。在此期間，我們看到出口增長約為3%。由於自由港的關閉，美國第一季度的銷量持平，但隨著自由港的重新啟動和運行，美國的銷量正在增加，並且是銷量增長的主要貢獻者。我們在挪威也關閉了工廠，挪威正在恢復出口。因此他們也增加了 160 萬美元，與阿爾及利亞一樣。

On the import side, we continue to see strong growth in Europe, adding 5 million tons in those 7 months. We've seen less demand for Japan with nuclear restarts, but China bouncing back. China, after they loosened up the COVID restrictions, we did see Chinese demand rebounding from March. And in the second quarter, Chinese import growth was about 20%.

在進口方面，我們繼續看到歐洲的強勁增長，這 7 個月增加了 500 萬噸。隨著核重啟，我們看到日本的需求減少，但中國的需求出現反彈。中國，在放鬆對新冠病毒的限制後，我們確實看到中國的需求從三月份開始反彈。第二季度，中國進口增速約為20%。

So then looking at the gas prices, they have been incredibly volatile the last couple of years, driven mostly by supply events as well as, of course, COVID. So looking back the last 1.5 years or so, of course, we saw high gas prices coming out after the invasion of Ukraine and also the strong demand in end of '21. We had the Freeport shut down middle of last year, which started to bring prices up. And then, of course, we have the Nord Stream explosion, which cut off a lot of Russian pipeline gas to Europe and actually sending the price of gas as high as $100 per million BTU. For those who are not too familiar with million BTU, that's 5.8 million BTU in a barrel of oil. So that means that we are talking here about gas prices equivalent to about $600 per barrel of oil. And of course, when prices are going to these kind of levels, demand goes down because of the high prices and switching to coal or propane or oil products.

那麼再看看天然氣價格，過去幾年它們的波動非常大，主要是由供應事件以及新冠疫情推動的。因此，回顧過去 1.5 年左右的時間，我們當然看到了烏克蘭入侵後出現的高油價，以及 21 年底的強勁需求。去年年中我們關閉了自由港，這開始導致價格上漲。當然，還有北溪爆炸，切斷了俄羅斯通往歐洲的大量天然氣管道，導致天然氣價格實際上高達每百萬英熱單位 100 美元。對於那些不太熟悉百萬 BTU 的人來說，一桶油相當於 580 萬 BTU。這意味著我們這裡討論的天然氣價格相當於每桶石油 600 美元左右。當然，當價格達到這樣的水平時，由於價格高並且轉向煤炭、丙烷或石油產品，需求會下降。

So with the spike in price, we've seen a lot of demand subversion in Europe, especially, which are more reliant on the spot market. And we saw gas prices basically falling from a high of $100 per million BTU in August last winter to about $10. And we then -- a level where natural gas actually very competitive towards oil. You see the dotted line here. It's LNG being sold at oil price with about 20% discount. And of course, when prices go down, again, we can see more demand. And now lately, the last week or so, we have had the situation where Australian workers are contemplating strikes, which could cut off almost 50% Australian volumes or 10% of global volumes. So these are really big numbers. When we look at the Freeport explosion, which cut off that plant, we were talking about 3.5% of global volumes. So these are almost 2.5x bigger volumes. And I will come back to the situation in Australia.

因此，隨著價格的飆升，我們看到了歐洲的大量需求顛覆，尤其是那些更依賴現貨市場的國家。我們看到天然氣價格基本上從去年冬天 8 月每百萬 BTU 100 美元的高位下跌至 10 美元左右。然後我們——天然氣實際上對石油非常有競爭力的水平。您會看到這裡的虛線。液化天然氣以油價約20%的折扣出售。當然，當價格再次下降時，我們可以看到更多的需求。最近，大約在上週，我們遇到了澳大利亞工人正在考慮罷工的情況，這可能會導致澳大利亞產量減少近 50%，或全球產量減少 10%。所以這些數字確實很大。當我們看到自由港爆炸導致該工廠癱瘓時，我們談論的是全球產量的 3.5%。所以這些體積幾乎是原來的 2.5 倍。我會回到澳大利亞的情況。

And with that, of course, we have seen a rally in European gas prices the last week or so. And we do expect gas prices to head upwards in line with the future curves there as there will be more demand when we're going into the winter. So look at -- let's have a look at the situation in Australia. There are several mega projects in Australia. As you can see here on the map, the uncertainty today is around 3 different projects, which are -- last year exported about 41 million tons, close to 50% of all Australian volumes. So here, we are talking about industrial actions where workers are contemplating a strike, which will affect the Northwest Shelf, a plant operated by Woodside, the Gorgon and Wheatstone projects operated by Chevron.

當然，隨之而來的是，我們在上週左右看到了歐洲天然氣價格的上漲。我們確實預計天然氣價格將與未來的曲線一致，因為進入冬季時需求將會增加。那麼讓我們看看澳大利亞的情況。澳大利亞有幾個大型項目。正如您在地圖上看到的，今天的不確定性圍繞 3 個不同的項目，這些項目去年的出口量約為 4100 萬噸，接近澳大利亞總出口量的 50%。所以在這裡，我們談論的是工人正在考慮罷工的工業行動，這將影響西北大陸架、伍德賽德經營的工廠、雪佛龍經營的戈爾貢和惠斯通項目。

So these projects are mostly selling all of their volumes to Asian buyers, given the short distance to these big markets, which are pan-China, South Korea, taking the vast majorities of these cargoes. So if there is a shutdown, it will really cater supply crunch, where Asian buyers will have to compete for Atlantic basin cargoes, mostly U.S., and drive prices up where we have seen already the fear of this happening and driving up prices. Of course, we don't expect shutdowns at a similar period of time as we have seen when we had the Freeport explosion, which is more a technical issue. But that said, we have seen similar actions happening on the Prelude project in Australia last year, where industrial action closed on exports from June 10 to August 25 last year. So this is still unresolved, but it's something to keep an eye on.

因此，考慮到這些項目距離這些大市場（泛中國、韓國）的距離很近，它們的大部分貨物都賣給了亞洲買家。因此，如果停產，這將真正解決供應緊縮問題，亞洲買家將不得不爭奪大西洋盆地的貨物（主要是美國貨物），並推高價格，而我們已經看到了對這種情況發生的擔憂並推高了價格。當然，我們預計不會像自由港爆炸那樣在相似的時間內關閉，這更多的是一個技術問題。但話雖如此，我們去年在澳大利亞的 Prelude 項目上也看到了類似的行動，去年 6 月 10 日至 8 月 25 日期間，該項目因罷工而停止了出口。所以這個問題仍然懸而未決，但值得關注。

Another interesting topic is the supply of Russian gas. So what we are repeating in (inaudible) is that Europe has really said they don't want to have Russian pipeline gas. And also with the Nord Stream pipeline exploded, it's not feasible to move those volumes. So the share of Russian pipeline gas in European Union's natural gas demand has been on a sharp fall. And of course, this gas has been replaced primarily by LNG. Europe has been incredibly lucky. First, we have had the COVID shutdowns in China.

另一個有趣的話題是俄羅斯天然氣的供應。因此，我們在（聽不清）中重複的是，歐洲確實表示他們不想擁有俄羅斯的管道天然氣。而且隨著北溪管道的爆炸，移動這些體積是不可行的。因此，俄羅斯管道天然氣在歐盟天然氣需求中的份額急劇下降。當然，這種氣體已主要被液化天然氣所取代。歐洲非常幸運。首先，我們在中國因新冠疫情而關閉。

And then we have seen the economic growth of China probably being on the slower side of expectation, which has resulted in Europe being able to source a lot of volumes from the spot market and U.S. cargoes, especially the flexible U.S. cargoes going to Europe. But not only the U.S. cargoes, actually, when we look at Russian LNG, it's very welcome in Europe, and actually, Russian LNG into Europe has just kept on going, as we can see on this graph on the right-hand side, Russian LNG to EU, 37% of the cargoes went to EU in 2021. It actually grew to 47% last year. And so far this year, 51% of Russian LNG is going to European countries.

然後我們看到中國的經濟增長可能低於預期，這導致歐洲能夠從現貨市場和美國貨物採購大量貨物，特別是運往歐洲的靈活的美國貨物。但不僅是美國的貨物，實際上，當我們看到俄羅斯的液化天然氣時，它在歐洲非常受歡迎，而且實際上，俄羅斯液化天然氣進入歐洲的勢頭一直在持續，正如我們在右側的圖表中看到的那樣，俄羅斯的液化天然氣在歐洲非常受歡迎。發往歐盟的液化天然氣，2021年有37%的貨物發往歐盟。去年實際上增長到了47%。今年到目前為止，俄羅斯液化天然氣的 51% 將銷往歐洲國家。

And why? It's because the European buyers can't really afford to not take the Russian LNG, given the tightness of the LNG market. So looking at the European gas market, which has been (inaudible) the last couple of years, European gas inventories now are at a very high level. We are very close to the 90% threshold that EU was targeting for November 1 already today. But again, there are -- the winter has not started. And of course, once we're getting into the winter, European consumers will start to utilize the storage level and deplete it, as is the seasonal pattern.

為什麼？這是因為考慮到液化天然氣市場的緊張，歐洲買家確實無法承受不購買俄羅斯液化天然氣的後果。因此，看看過去幾年（聽不清）的歐洲天然氣市場，歐洲天然氣庫存現在處於非常高的水平。今天我們已經非常接近歐盟為 11 月 1 日設定的 90% 的目標。但同樣，冬天還沒有開始。當然，一旦進入冬季，歐洲消費者將開始利用儲存水平並耗盡它，就像季節性模式一樣。

So I had some scenario analysis of how vulnerable Europe is to supply crunches. And we have 4 different scenarios here. So it might be a bit confusing here on the right-hand side, but we look at -- once the heating season start, which is first of October, what is the level of inventory levels there? And you will see, as you get to November, December, January, February, March, this storage level will be declining as we are using from the storage levels. So how much they are declining? It really depends on a couple of factors. It's -- the biggest factor is whether the winter will be cold or not. And then it will also be about how much gas will Europe be able to source from the LNG market. And that's why we have seen the rally in the gas prices last week or so, because if in the event, Asian buyers are competing for marginal spot cargoes, LNG supply will be more restrictive. And in such a situation where you have a cold winter and restrictive LNG supply, Europe could end up with very low level of gas coming out of the winter this season despite the high storage level today.

因此，我對歐洲對供應緊縮的脆弱程度進行了一些情景分析。我們這裡有 4 種不同的場景。因此，右側可能有點令人困惑，但我們看看 - 一旦供暖季節開始，即 10 月 1 日，那裡的庫存水平是多少？您會看到，當您進入 11 月、12 月、1 月、2 月、3 月時，隨著我們使用存儲級別，此存儲級別將會下降。那麼他們下降了多少呢？這實際上取決於幾個因素。最大的因素是冬天冷不冷。然後還涉及歐洲能夠從液化天然氣市場採購多少天然氣。這就是為什麼我們上週左右看到天然氣價格上漲，因為如果亞洲買家爭奪邊際現貨貨物，液化天然氣供應將受到更多限制。在冬季寒冷且液化天然氣供應有限的情況下，儘管目前的儲存水平很高，但歐洲本季節冬季的天然氣產量可能會非常低。

So looking at the market we are operating in is the freight market. The spot market's been acting as usual. We have had the spot market cooling down as we're getting out of the winter. And once we're getting closer to winter, spot rates are going up and following the seasonal pattern, today, we are already above $100,000 per day for modern tonnage. And if you look at the future curves on the left-hand side, which is the dotted blue line, we see that the future curves are pricing ships for the winter in excess of $200,000 per day, in line also with what we have seen in the past.

那麼我們所經營的市場就是貨運市場。現貨市場表現如常。隨著冬季的結束，現貨市場逐漸降溫。一旦接近冬季，即期價格就會上漲並遵循季節性模式，今天，我們的現代噸位已經超過每天 100,000 美元。如果你看一下左側的未來曲線，即藍色虛線，我們會發現，未來曲線中冬季船舶的定價每天超過 200,000 美元，這也與我們在過去。

But keep in mind, there's been a lot of traders and the portfolio players. They have been taking ships on longer-term charters. So the numbers of fixtures in the spot market has gone down, and also the spot fixtures being done today are primarily relets, where charters are fixing ships to each other, not independent owners.

但請記住，有很多交易者和投資組合參與者。他們一直在以長期租船方式租船。因此，現貨市場上的固定裝置數量已經下降，而且目前進行的現貨固定裝置主要是轉租，即租船合同是相互固定船舶，而不是獨立所有者。

Looking at more term rates, where we are more active. Of course, term rates are driven by, of course, supply and demand, but they're also driven by new building prices and interest rates level. So we have seen new building prices picking up about 30% the last 2 years. And of course, when people are doing a tender for new buildings, those people investing this amount of money in our ship, they need a higher breakeven level in order to defend such investment also when interest rates are picking up. So today, new building prices are at around $265 million with a couple of more ships for -- available for delivery at '27 before we are starting to have only yard slots open for 2028.

著眼於更多的期限利率，我們在這些領域更加活躍。當然，定期利率當然是由供需驅動的，但它們也受到新建築價格和利率水平的驅動。因此，我們看到新建築價格在過去 2 年上漲了約 30%。當然，當人們對新建築進行招標時，那些在我們的船上投資這麼多錢的人，他們需要更高的盈虧平衡水平，以便在利率上升時也能捍衛此類投資。因此，今天，新建築的價格約為 2.65 億美元，還有幾艘船可於 27 年交付，然後我們開始只為 2028 年開放船廠位置。

So today, the 10-year rates, as you can see here in the light blue line, is hovering above $100,000 and then at about $115,000 for the 5-year time charter rate. So this is one of the reasons why we are also very optimistic about recontracting our ships. We have 2 ships open in '27 competing with these ships and then 2 ships also in '28, where we do think that once we are recontracting ships, we will be doing that at higher levels, which we have also done and evidenced in the past.

因此，今天，正如您在淺藍色線中看到的那樣，10 年期租船費率徘徊在 100,000 美元以上，然後 5 年期租船費率約為 115,000 美元。所以這也是我們對船舶再承包也非常樂觀的原因之一。我們在 27 年開放了 2 艘船與這些船競爭，然後在 28 年也開放了 2 艘船，我們確實認為一旦我們重新承包船舶，我們將在更高的水平上這樣做，我們也在過去的。

Looking at the order book, we had a lot of contracting of new builds last year. With these higher prices, we have seen fewer contracting these days. But the order book is big, and it's also reflecting of the fact that we have a lot of new volumes coming to the market. And it's reflecting the fact that still we have a lot of steam propulsion on water with 35% of the fleet consisting of steam ships. And we do see more and more of these ships leaving the shipping market and have to be replaced by more modern fuel-efficient tonnage driven by economics, driven by regulation and also to -- from next year, actually carbon taxation in the European Union. If we look at the order book today, most of the ships are committed to long-term charters, only about 10% of the ships in the order book are uncommitted so far.

從訂單簿來看，去年我們簽訂了很多新建築的合同。由於價格上漲，這些天我們看到的合同減少了。但訂單量很大，這也反映出我們有大量新產品進入市場。這反映了這樣一個事實：我們仍然在水上擁有大量蒸汽推進裝置，其中 35% 的船隊由蒸汽船組成。我們確實看到越來越多的此類船舶離開航運市場，必須被更現代、更節能的船舶所取代，這些船舶受到經濟、監管的推動，而且從明年開始，歐盟實際上將徵收碳稅。如果我們看看今天的訂單簿，大多數船舶都承諾長期租用，到目前為止，訂單簿中只有約10%的船舶沒有承諾。

Looking at the -- what you could call the cargo market, the LNG supply. We've seen continued FID projects taking the final investment decision, latest one being Next Decade's Rio Grande, which announced they're going ahead with the Rio Grande project. And we've also seen 2 other projects in U.S. this year. Venture Global's Plaquemines Phase 2 and Port Arthur also earlier this year. So we have about 100 million tons of project in North America under construction or where they have taken the final investment decision, and then $73 million rest of the world. And there are still a lot of projects chasing FID.

看看你可以稱之為貨運市場的液化天然氣供應。我們看到不斷有 FID 項目做出最終投資決定，最新的一個是 Next Decade 的 Rio Grande，該項目宣布將繼續推進 Rio Grande 項目。今年我們還在美國看到了另外兩個項目。 Venture Global 的 Plaquemines 二期和亞瑟港也在今年早些時候進行了開發。因此，我們在北美有大約 1 億噸的項目正在建設中或已經做出最終投資決定，然後是世界其他地區的 7300 萬美元。而且還有很多項目正在等待最終投資決定。

The project we deem probable or highly probable to do so is about 85 million tons in North America, 68 million tons of the rest of the world. So we do see a very strong growth in the market. The nameplate capacity today is 465 million tons. We do expect LNG supply this year to be about 420 million tons. We are not able to have 100% utilization on these projects. And then this -- if you add all the projects under construction, you are getting to 634 million. But there are still projects trying to get FID. And if you put in all the highly probable, you are ending up at a very big number, 788 million. So that is one of the driver for all this contracting of new LNG ships.

我們認為有可能或極有可能這樣做的項目是北美約8500萬噸，世界其他地區約6800萬噸。因此，我們確實看到市場的強勁增長。目前的銘牌產能為 4.65 億噸。我們預計今年液化天然氣供應量約為4.2億噸。我們無法對這些項目實現 100% 的利用率。然後，如果把所有在建項目加起來，就會達到 6.34 億美元。但仍有項目試圖獲得最終投資決定。如果你把所有極有可能的數字都放進去，你最終會得到一個非常大的數字：7.88 億。因此，這是所有新液化天然氣船承包的驅動因素之一。

So with that, I think we conclude today's presentation. I'm just going to run through the highlights quickly. Revenues for the quarter in line with our guidance. We have strong earnings, $39 million, or $28.2 million if you adjust out the unrealized gains on our derivatives, giving earnings per share of $0.73 or $0.53, respectively. We have completed our drydocking program of the 4 ships on time and budget. We just recently had an extension of our Cheniere time charter for Flex Vigilant, bringing that ship into 2031. Revenues for the second half of the year will pick up as we have completed the dockings and as we do see a stronger spot market. And we are confirming the guidance we already provided in February, $370 million of revenues for the year, adjusted EBITDA of $290 million to $295 million, driven by higher earnings in Q3 and Q4.

我想我們今天的演講就到此結束了。我將快速瀏覽一下重點內容。本季度的收入符合我們的指導。如果你調整我們衍生品的未實現收益，每股收益分別為 0.73 美元或 0.53 美元，我們的盈利將達到 3900 萬美元或 2820 萬美元。我們已按時按預算完成了 4 艘船的干船塢計劃。我們最近剛剛延長了 Flex Vigilant 的 Cheniere 期租合同，將該船延長至 2031 年。隨著我們完成了對接，並且我們確實看到現貨市場更加強勁，下半年的收入將會回升。我們正在確認我們在 2 月份提供的指導，由於第三季度和第四季度收益增加，全年收入為 3.7 億美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 2.9 億至 2.95 億美元。

So with that, we are happy to declare another dividend of $0.75, bringing the dividend the last 12 months to $3.25, giving, again, as I mentioned, 10% yield. And we can do that easily given our high backlog and strong financial position. So with that, I thank you for joining the presentation. We will then gather in some questions and do a Q&A session. Thank you.

因此，我們很高興宣布另一筆股息 0.75 美元，使過去 12 個月的股息達到 3.25 美元，正如我提到的，收益率再次達到 10%。鑑於我們積壓較多且財務狀況強勁，我們可以輕鬆做到這一點。因此，我感謝您參加本次演講。然後我們將收集一些問題並進行問答環節。謝謝。

Okay. Let's start the Q&A session, Knut. And I think we have received quite a lot of questions today as well, even though I think most of the analyst reports coming out this morning was -- this is boring stuff, no news, everything as expected, but we'd rather be boring and profitable than funny and losing a lot of money. So let's see. Okay.

好的。讓我們開始問答環節吧，克努特。我認為我們今天也收到了很多問題，儘管我認為今天早上發布的大多數分析師報告都是——這是無聊的東西，沒有新聞，一切都如預期，但我們寧願無聊而且盈利比滑稽的還要賠很多錢。那麼讓我們看看。好的。

We have good group of questions, and thank you for sending them in. Let's start with the contracts. And [Wolfburn], he questioned if it's a surprise that Cheniere declared the option on the Vigilant that early. And can we expect any other options to be declared by Cheniere and soon?

我們有很多問題，感謝您發送這些問題。讓我們從合同開始。 [Wolfburn]，他質疑切尼爾這麼早就宣布了警惕性的選擇是否令人驚訝。我們是否可以期待切尼爾很快宣布任何其他選擇？

Yes, Wolf is a loyal shareholder. Now, it's not a surprise at all. Actually, if you read the press release we sent out last year when we did this deal with Cheniere for 3 ships, which we extended then, we wrote the fact that the Vigilant had an early option due Q3 this year. It's not Q3, even though we report in Q2. So it comes at no surprise. And they also have an early option to extend the Endeavour in spring next year, where the period is slightly bigger or longer, 500 days. So I would expect that to happen as well. So no surprise, as planned.

是的，沃爾夫是一位忠實的股東。現在，這一點也不奇怪。事實上，如果你讀過我們去年發布的新聞稿，當時我們與Cheniere 達成了3 艘船的協議，然後我們延長了協議，我們寫了這樣一個事實，即Vigilant 有一個提前選擇權，將於今年第三季度到期。儘管我們在第二季度報告，但這不是第三季度。所以這並不奇怪。他們還可以提前選擇在明年春季延長奮進號，期限稍長一些，為 500 天。所以我希望這種情況也會發生。所以按照計劃，這並不奇怪。

And then a follow-up on the contracts from Fredrik Wessel in Pareto Securities. In the fixed-rate contracts, are there any inflation adjustments?

然後是帕累托證券公司弗雷德里克·韋塞爾 (Fredrik Wessel) 的合同後續行動。固定利率合約中是否有通貨膨脹調整？

No. We have them on a fixed-rate level. Of course, there are some [fact] in those contracts. That's why we're making some money. However, we have hedged the risk in terms of inflation. Usually, there is a pretty strong correlation between interest rates and inflation. So if inflation goes up, interest rates tend to go up, as we have seen very much so the last couple of years. So we are -- as Knut have shown, we hedged a lot of interest rate, so we have covered the inflation risk in that sense. And actually, our cost of interest rate, interest rate per day, is higher than OpEx per day. So it's actually a more important risk to cover.

不會。我們的利率水平是固定的。當然，這些合同中有一些[事實]。這就是我們賺一些錢的原因。不過，我們對沖了通脹風險。通常，利率和通貨膨脹之間存在很強的相關性。因此，如果通貨膨脹上升，利率往往會上升，正如我們在過去幾年中所看到的那樣。所以我們——正如克努特所表明的那樣，我們對沖了大量的利率，所以我們從這個意義上涵蓋了通脹風險。實際上，我們的利率成本（每日利率）高於每日運營支出。因此，這實際上是一個需要承擔的更重要的風險。

Then we have some questions around the contract portfolio. We today announced a 54-year of firm backlog and 8 years, including the options. And then we talked about open vessels in 2027 and '28. So the question is, what's the likelihood of the options to be declared?

然後我們對合同組合有一些疑問。我們今天宣布了 54 年的公司積壓訂單和 8 年的積壓訂單，包括期權。然後我們討論了 2027 年和 28 年開放的船隻。那麼問題是，宣布選項的可能性有多大？

Yes. I would say right now, given where term rates are for ships, ships have become a lot more expensive. I showed now that ships have been -- new building prices has gone up 30% in 2 years. But keep in mind, we ordered ships back in '17, '18. So they've gone up from $180 million to $265 million. So -- and rates for new builds, $100,000 or -- rates are lower, although most of the options we have are typically at a higher rate than we have on the firm period. So I think the likelihood of options being extended is very high. Whether all the options will be exercised, it's hard to say, but I think most of the options will probably be called by the charters and all kind of backlog is then -- most probably longer than the 54 years we have firm.

是的。我現在想說的是，考慮到船舶的期限費率，船舶已經變得更加昂貴。我現在表明，新造船的價格在兩年內上漲了 30%。但請記住，我們早在 17 年、18 年就訂購了船隻。因此，它們從 1.8 億美元增加到 2.65 億美元。因此，新建房屋的利率（100,000 美元或）較低，儘管我們擁有的大多數選擇的利率通常高於固定期間的利率。所以我認為延長期權的可能性非常高。很難說是否所有的選擇權都會被行使，但我認為大多數選擇權可能會被章程調用，然後所有的積壓都會出現——很可能比我們堅守的 54 年還要長。

Okay. Then moving on to drydock. We have a question from [Hakon Lunde], who works in the offshore drilling industry. And they have a concept in the drilling industry about continuous class, where they do maintenance and class renewal while in operation in order to reduce time at the yard and off-hire. Is that a concept that could work in the LNG for Amber Flex when doing drydocks?

好的。然後前往幹船塢。我們有一個來自海上鑽井行業工作的 [Hakon Lunde] 的問題。他們在鑽井行業有一個關於連續等級的概念，即在作業時進行維護和等級更新，以減少在船廠和停租的時間。這個概念是否可以在 Amber Flex 的 LNG 幹船塢中發揮作用？

I think it's a bit different if you are on a semi-submersible drilling rig, and you can spend $50 million, $100 million during the special survey on the ship. We -- of course, we do have a continuous maintenance all the time. We do have class inspections regularly. And of course, prior to us going into our dock, we want to minimize the stay at dock. So what we are doing is to prepare everything in advance. So once we are doing the discharge, we use the ballast leg to prepare all the maintenance, starting to take down equipment, so they are ready to be maintained.

我覺得如果是半潛式鑽井平台就有點不一樣了，在船上做專項調查的時候可以花5000萬、1億美元。當然，我們確實一直在進行持續的維護。我們確實定期進行班級檢查。當然，在進入碼頭之前，我們希望盡量減少在碼頭的停留時間。所以我們要做的就是提前做好一切準備。因此，一旦我們進行放電，我們就使用壓載腿準備所有維護工作，開始拆除設備，以便準備好進行維護。

And I think we evidenced that now, we guided 80 to 90 days dock stay for those 4 ships we had planned this year. We managed to spend only 77 days on those 4 dockings, average 19 days. And I think if you compare that with most other LNG owners, we are comparing very favorable on time and also on cost. Because staying in a dock is costly.

我認為我們現在已經證明，我們為今年計劃的 4 艘船提供了 80 至 90 天的停靠時間。我們在這 4 次對接中只花了 77 天，平均 19 天。我認為，如果與大多數其他液化天然氣所有者進行比較，我們在時間和成本上都非常有利。因為留在碼頭的成本很高。

And he follows up with another question on the new buildings. It's been mentioned that they have some new gadgets slightly different from our vessels. So while we are in drydock, do you plan to do any upgrades of the vessels?

他接著提出了關於新建築的另一個問題。有人提到他們有一些與我們的船隻略有不同的新玩意。那麼，當我們在幹船塢時，你們計劃對船隻進行升級嗎？

It's not major upgrades. Of course, we always do software upgrades. There are maybe some new energy-saving devices or we are putting in some more sensors, but not major upgrades. We have the most efficient engines that's a 2 stock, people ordering ships today are still the 2 stock. Actually, very few people are ordering the mega ships, which we have 9 out of the 13 in our fleet is mega ships because they are quite expensive. Usually, they have 1 or 2 high-pressure compressors running at 300 bar. People today are maybe as often opting for cheaper engines with lower pressure, which result in not as good combustion and more (inaudible).

這不是重大升級。當然，我們總是進行軟件升級。也許會有一些新的節能設備，或者我們正在安裝更多的傳感器，但不會進行重大升級。我們擁有最高效的發動機，這是 2 個庫存，今天訂購船舶的人仍然是 2 個庫存。事實上，很少有人訂購巨型船，我們的船隊13艘中有9艘是巨型船，因為它們非常昂貴。通常，他們有 1 或 2 台運行壓力為 300 bar 的高壓壓縮機。今天的人們可能經常選擇更便宜、壓力更低的發動機，這會導致燃燒效果不佳等等（聽不清）。

There are some other gadgets. You have the air lubrication system. But so far, there are some mixed results on these systems. I think if you are to order new ships today, of course, shaft generator is quite popular. It's basically if you have a bicycle and you have a dynamo on the bicycle in order to make lights. So rather than running the auxiliary engines, you can use the dynamo. But of course, if you use the dynamo, you also create friction. So it's not like you get free electricity, you have to burn more on the engine, but you can use less of the auxiliary engine. So that's around the Board way of saying that we plan no bigger upgrades because the ships are state-of-the-art, and we order them because we could get state-of-the-art ships at the right time at the right price compared to what it is today.

還有一些其他的小工具。你有空氣潤滑系統。但到目前為止，這些系統的結果好壞參半。我想如果你今天要訂購新船，軸帶發電機當然很受歡迎。基本上，如果你有一輛自行車，並且自行車上有一個發電機來發光。因此，您可以使用發電機，而不是運行輔助發動機。但當然，如果您使用發電機，也會產生摩擦。所以這並不是說你得到免費的電力，你必須在發動機上燃燒更多，但你可以使用更少的輔助發動機。這就是董事會的說法，我們計劃不進行更大的升級，因為這些船隻是最先進的，我們訂購它們是因為我們可以在正確的時間以正確的價格獲得最先進的船隻與今天相比。

Then we have questions for finance. And basically a recurring question on our cash piles, why we are not repaying debt in order to reduce interest rate cost?

然後我們有財務方面的問題。基本上，關於我們的現金儲備的一個反復出現的問題是，為什麼我們不償還債務以降低利率成本？

It's a recurring question, and it's something that we get, and it's related to the RCF or the revolving credit facility we have. Basically, we use the RCF for cash management. In between quarters, we repay with available cash to bring down the interest cost, which is actually the question here. And that makes sure we have cash available and funds available when we need it. And it follows up on the classical principles of raising capital when you can and have it available. So for this RCF, when we don't utilize it, we pay 70 basis points in a commitment fee, and that's a pretty cheap way of having capital available.

這是一個反復出現的問題，也是我們得到的東西，它與我們擁有的 RCF 或循環信貸便利有關。基本上，我們使用 RCF 進行現金管理。在兩個季度之間，我們用可用現金償還，以降低利息成本，這實際上是這裡的問題。這確保我們在需要時擁有可用現金和資金。它遵循盡可能籌集資金的經典原則。因此，對於這個 RCF，當我們不使用它時，我們支付 70 個基點的承諾費，這是獲得可用資本的一種相當便宜的方式。

Following up on the market, a couple of questions there. We have Charles from (inaudible). Short question, is the winter coming?

跟進市場，有幾個問題。我們有來自（聽不清）的查爾斯。小問題，冬天來了嗎？

Short answer, yes? We are in August. Once we're getting into October, the winter will be coming. So what I think will referring to maybe is (inaudible) when I've shown the European storage levels of gas, of course, they are very high today, reflecting the fact that muted demand over the summer, muted demand over last winter, when we had the third La Niña, pretty warm or mild winter in Europe. What will happen this year? Let's see, this year is different from the last 3 years. The last 3 years, we have had a La Niña. This year, we have El Niño. El Niño typically means colder winters in North of Europe, wetter winters in south of Europe, usually warmer winters in Asia.

簡短的回答，是嗎？我們是八月。一進入十月，冬天就來臨了。因此，我認為可能指的是（聽不清）當我展示歐洲天然氣儲存水平時，當然，它們今天非常高，反映出夏季需求疲軟，去年冬季需求疲軟的事實，當我們經歷了第三次拉尼娜現象，歐洲的冬天相當溫暖或溫和。今年會發生什麼？讓我們看看，今年與過去三年有所不同。過去三年，我們經歷了拉尼娜現象。今年，我們遇到了厄爾尼諾現象。厄爾尼諾現象通常意味著歐洲北部的冬天較冷，歐洲南部的冬天較濕潤，亞洲的冬天通常較溫暖。

So even though inventory levels look high today, you have to also take into account that all the Russian gas that used to be there to support gas consumption in Europe is more or less gone. So the storage is becoming much more important, and the drawdown of the storage levels will probably be much quicker, especially in a cold winter because you don't have the same kind of baseload of gas into the market. So the winter will be coming. It will be interesting to see. We need to have as much LNG to the market as possible in order to not create this kind of wild price swings we have seen in the past.

因此，儘管今天的庫存水平看起來很高，但你還必須考慮到，過去用於支持歐洲天然氣消費的所有俄羅斯天然氣或多或少都消失了。因此，存儲變得更加重要，並且存儲水平的下降可能會更快，特別是在寒冷的冬天，因為市場上沒有相同類型的天然氣基本負荷。所以冬天將會來臨。看看會很有趣。我們需要向市場提供盡可能多的液化天然氣，以免造成我們過去看到的這種劇烈的價格波動。

Yes. So that brings up to another question from [Sharif Al-Maghrabi]. We have in the presentation talked and is also in the news now about the potential strike in Australia. So what's the impact on the ton mile? And there is a risk of seaborne volumes will drop. And where will then the importers pick up the slack?

是的。這就引出了[Sharif Al-Maghrabi]的另一個問題。我們在演講中談到了澳大利亞可能發生的罷工，現在新聞中也提到了這一點。那麼對噸英里有什麼影響呢？海運量也存在下降的風險。那麼進口商將在哪裡填補空缺呢？

Of course, this is so much volume. It's unprecedented. 10% suddenly of all volumes going away, with some Freeport going away, it's 3.5%. So -- if that is -- volumes are curtailed, prices will skyrocket. It will not be enough LNG in the market for sure. And hopefully, we can only hope it will not be long-lasting. We have seen a similar situation here in Norway, where oil and gas workers have been contemplating striking and actually, the government have intervened and said this -- the consequences are too big. We are the biggest gas exporter to Europe, we have a public arbitrator and just setting the term by fiat. I think Australia should certainly consider something similar.

當然，這是這麼大的體積。這是前所未有的。所有交易量中的 10% 突然消失，其中一些自由港消失，即 3.5%。因此，如果真是這樣的話，產量就會減少，價格就會飆升。市場上肯定不會有足夠的液化天然氣。希望這種情況不會持續太久。我們在挪威也看到了類似的情況，石油和天然氣工人一直在考慮罷工，實際上政府已經介入並表示——後果太大了。我們是歐洲最大的天然氣出口國，我們有一名公共仲裁員，並且只是通過法令設定期限。我認為澳大利亞當然應該考慮類似的事情。

If it happens, of course, you will free up a lot of ships in Australia, which are usually doing that kind of transportation from Australia to Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan. So JKTC, all those ships will be available, 40 ships. If you multiply maybe 1.3, 1.4, it's a sizable number of ships, maybe 60 ships will be available in the market. Probably not will be available immediately because people will be holding them back, because they don't know how long the strike will be. They're going to fix the ship on a 3 months or 2 months of charter, and suddenly, the strike is over and they are left out of the ships. So you will equate inefficiencies. And you will have ships going to longer routes to U.S., to Asia.

當然，如果發生這種情況，你將釋放澳大利亞的大量船隻，這些船隻通常從事從澳大利亞到日本、韓國、中國、台灣的此類運輸。所以 JKTC，所有這些船隻都將可用，40 艘。如果乘以 1.3、1.4，這艘船的數量就相當可觀了，市場上可能有 60 艘船。可能不會立即可用，因為人們會阻止他們，因為他們不知道罷工會持續多久。他們打算以三個月或兩個月的租期來修理這艘船，突然間，罷工結束了，他們被排除在船上。所以你會認為效率低下。而且會有船隻前往更遠的航線前往美國和亞洲。

And I think, actually, shipping market will also be tight because the uncertainty about when will volumes come back. Of course, when Freeport shut down, they had like a time line when the volumes would be starting up and people could relet the ships. When you have a strike, that's more uncertainty and certainty, people will be holding their ships. So I think LNG's product market will be immensely tight, and then shipping market will also benefit. But it will not be a good situation. And actually, I hope it not happen because we need LNG to stay at a cheaper level if we're going to attract new consumers.

我認為，實際上，航運市場也將緊張，因為運輸量何時恢復的不確定性。當然，當自由港關閉時，他們有一個時間線，當數量開始增加時，人們可以轉租船隻。當發生罷工時，不確定性和確定性都會增加，人們會堅守自己的船隻。所以我認為LNG的產品市場將會非常緊張，那麼航運市場也會受益。但這不會是一個好的情況。實際上，我希望這種情況不會發生，因為如果我們要吸引新消費者，我們需要液化天然氣保持在更便宜的水平。

And on top of that, we have the problems with the Panama Canal. So how is that affecting Flex and the LNG industry in general?

最重要的是，我們還有巴拿馬運河的問題。那麼這對偉創力和整個液化天然氣行業有何影響呢？

We have had the worst drought in Panama since the canal opened in 1914. Water levels are very low. Remember, this is a big canal. And when you're putting ships through it, you need -- you are losing water from the canal into the sea. So you have to refill these water balances from reservoirs. And these reservoirs are at a low level. And the typically one transit, you are losing 50 million gallons of water, which is 190 million liters. So Panama have had to reduce the number of transits to keep the water level. So this has created a super tight market in the Panama Canal, waiting times today, if you don't have a slot, is almost 20 days.

巴拿馬遭遇了自 1914 年運河開通以來最嚴重的干旱。水位非常低。請記住，這是一條大運河。當你讓船隻通過它時，你需要——你正在將水從運河流失到大海中。所以你必須從水庫補充這些水平衡。而且這些水庫水位較低。通常，一次運輸就會損失 5000 萬加侖的水，即 1.9 億升。因此巴拿馬不得不減少過境次數以保持水位。因此，這造成了巴拿馬運河的市場非常緊張，如果沒有槽位，今天的等待時間幾乎是 20 天。

And that's August. Last November, we saw them going up to 26 days, but that's winter season. The winter season is always more busy. You have the high season for container ships going for the shopping season. You have more exports of LNG and LPG and typically more routes to Asia. So Panama clogging is a problem that's not going away. Even though the drought is going away, Panama is jammed. And the reason is Panama Canal was built for container traffic, increased container traffic, the Neo-Panamax container ships. And this was decided before the sales revolution in America, where suddenly U.S. became the biggest LNG exporter and the biggest LPG exporter. And the canal has not been scaled to suddenly also take all that traffic.

那是八月。去年 11 月，我們看到它們長達 26 天，但那是冬季。冬季總是更加忙碌。集裝箱船正處於購物旺季的旺季。您有更多的液化天然氣和液化石油氣出口，通常還有更多通往亞洲的航線。因此，巴拿馬堵塞是一個不會消失的問題。儘管乾旱正在消失，但巴拿馬仍然擁堵。原因是巴拿馬運河是為集裝箱運輸而修建的，增加了集裝箱運輸量，即新巴拿馬型集裝箱船。這是在美國銷售革命之前決定的，美國突然成為最大的液化天然氣出口國和最大的液化石油氣出口國。而且運河還沒有擴大到突然吸收所有交通的程度。

So that will be on inefficiency. We see it more on the LPG side in Avance Gas, where we have routing ships away from Panama because it's too much waiting time, and it's too difficult to fix a ship when you don't know the schedule.

所以這會導致效率低下。我們在 Avance Gas 的液化石油氣方面看到更多，我們在那里安排船隻離開巴拿馬，因為等待時間太長，而且當你不知道時間表時修復船隻太困難。

So then there is a bit of a crystal ball question. What's your view on the LNG commodity prices in the short end and longer?

那麼這就有一個水晶球問題了。您對短期和長期液化天然氣商品價格有何看法？

Right, of course, it's -- I believe forward rates are not always a good predictor of prices, but I think it's pretty accurate in the near term. Forward prices will stay tight for the medium term or the short term. There will be a lot of demand for the winter market, so prices will go up. There's not coming a lot of new LNG to the market near term, which means the market will stay tight. Europe will not get access to Russian pipeline gas, so there will be a tight market. From '25 onwards, there are coming a lot more liquefaction plants. And hopefully, that can bring down prices, because otherwise, we are pricing out consumers. And actually, we would like to get prices down to $10 and less because then we can finally do something with coal. Because LNG should be utilized not only to replace Russian pipeline gas, but also coal. And if you are to do that, which is immensely important in terms of pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, then you need to get the price which is affordable for developing countries and not only European consumers.

是的，當然，我相信遠期利率並不總是價格的良好預測指標，但我認為它在短期內相當準確。中短期遠期價格將保持緊張。冬季市場需求量很大，因此價格會上漲。短期內不會有大量新液化天然氣進入市場，這意味著市場將保持緊張。歐洲將無法獲得俄羅斯管道天然氣，因此市場將會緊張。從 25 年開始，出現了更多的液化廠。希望這能降低價格，否則我們就會把消費者排除在外。事實上，我們希望將價格降至 10 美元或更少，因為這樣我們終於可以用煤炭做點什麼了。因為液化天然氣不僅可以用來替代俄羅斯管道天然氣，還可以用來替代煤炭。如果你要這樣做，這在污染和溫室氣體排放方面非常重要，那麼你需要獲得發展中國家（而不僅僅是歐洲消費者）可以承受的價格。

So that rounds up the questions, but we'll include one more. It's Lucy Hine from TradeWinds. What's your guidance for your time to complete the Oslo Marathon?

這樣就解決了所有問題，但我們還會再添加一個。我是來自 TradeWinds 的露西·海因。您對完成奧斯陸馬拉鬆的時間有什麼指導？

Guidance. I'm giving guidance on that as well, no? To that, I've been too so accurate on the guidance for our financials. Number one, we are attending Oslo Marathon, the Flex -- the whole Flex team in actually exactly 1 month, but we are not running the full marathon. We are running the half marathon. We don't want to have too much tear and wear on these guys. Let's see. My goal is I challenged my guys to beat me. Hopefully, I can beat 1 or 2 of them. Last time, I -- since I ran my last half marathon, I've been doing 24 of this quarterly presentations. So that hasn't helped my weight. That weight has gone up. So probably 15 minutes longer time than last time, so below 150 then.

指導。我也在這方面提供指導，不是嗎？對此，我對我們的財務指引過於準確。第一，我們將參加奧斯陸馬拉鬆比賽，Flex 整個 Flex 團隊實際上只用了 1 個月的時間，但我們並沒有跑全程馬拉松。我們正在跑半程馬拉松。我們不想讓這些傢伙承受太多的撕裂和磨損。讓我們來看看。我的目標是挑戰我的隊友擊敗我。希望我能擊敗他們中的一兩個。上次，自從我跑完上一次半程馬拉松以來，我已經做了 24 次季度演示。所以這對我的體重沒有幫助。那體重已經上升了。所以可能比上次多了 15 分鐘，所以低於 150 分鐘。

Good. That rounds up the questions. Thanks a lot for all of the questions.

好的。這就解決了問題。非常感謝您提出的所有問題。

And Lucy, if you are there. If you are going to Gastech early September for the big gas conference, I know you like to run marathons. So then, of course, I will bring you -- I had one of these -- Just Flex It T-shirt, so you can run that -- use that next time you run marathon. Not the half marathon like the lazy guys like me, but the full marathon. Okay?

還有露西，如果你在的話。如果您九月初要去 Gastech 參加大型天然氣會議，我知道您喜歡跑馬拉松。那麼，當然，我會給你帶來 - 我有一件 - Just Flex It T 卹，這樣你就可以跑步 - 下次你跑馬拉鬆時使用它。不是像我這樣的懶人那樣的半程馬拉松，而是全程馬拉松。好的？

Then we need to round off with the winner of the Flex kits for the questions.

然後我們需要選出 Flex 套件的獲勝者來解答問題。

I guess we -- Hakon Lunde, we ended up at. I wonder if this is Hakon Lunde, which I knew from my childhood. Let's see. Okay. We'll reach out to him and give him the T-shirt so he also can run half marathon or full marathon, of course, the Flex glasses and the boiler suit. But if he works for drilling, I'm pretty sure he already have a boiler suit. Okay.

我想我們——Hakon Lunde，我們最終到達了。我想知道這是否是我從小就認識的哈康倫德。讓我們來看看。好的。我們會聯繫他並給他一件 T 卹，這樣他也可以跑半程馬拉鬆或全程馬拉松，當然還有 Flex 眼鏡和連衫褲。但如果他從事鑽井工作，我很確定他已經有了一套工作服。好的。

Congratulations, and thank you for all of the questions.

恭喜您，並感謝您提出的所有問題。

Okay. Thank you, guys. And we'll see you in November. Thank you.

好的。感謝你們。我們將在 11 月見。謝謝。