West of Suez

Pressurised trading has always been an extremely important part of Petredec's development, nowhere more so than in Europe and the Atlantic.

Through the 1980's the company formed strong relationships with most of the regions' LPG suppliers and importers.

At the peak of the pressurised market prior to the arrival of new terminals big enough to load and discharge fully refrigerated vessels, Petredec supplied many of the regions' main importing

countries including Holland, France, Portugal, Spain and much of the Mediterranean.

In 2005/2007 Petredec made the decision to sell off the large percentage of our pressurised fleet.

The costs for building new vessels had risen substantially and in turn the sales price for second hand tonnage had leapt.

This was leading to increasing time charter costs and of course reduced profits as voyages became far more expensive.

Petredec saw this as a good opportunity to resell some of our older fleet and reinvested the money within the company.

The cash generated has helped enhance the expansion of our fully refrigerated fleet.

Petredec is still one of the largest pressurised players and is gradually building up our pressurised fleet again as opportunities arise.

To facilitate the trading activities the company either owns or has on time chartered over 20 vessels globally.

East of Suez

The first pressurised vessel operated in Singapore laid the foundations for the start up of the Singapore office in 1995.

Since its inception the Pressurised Group has seen many peaks and troughs, from the initial rush to import product into China via small terminals and off floating storage vessels to seeing China curtailing imports and starting to re-export.

While the market moved so did Petredec as the importance of developing relationships and understanding the business cultures of the Chinese, Thai, Filipinos, Vietnamese and Indonesian market players became paramount in developing business.

As the South East Asian Markets have developed, they have gone through a

huge transformation as they switch their emphasis from dependence on small pressurised cargo to importing larger refrigerated cargo into the newer fully refrigerated storages on both land and via floating storages off the coast of Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia.

As Crude Oil and Naphtha prices have risen in recent times, the price of LPG has become cheaper in comparison and countries such as Singapore and Thailand, with the ability to feed the LPG into the Naphtha crackers, have done so resulting in less LPG cargoes available for export.

The contraction in both supply and demand of pressurised LPG in the region has meant that Petredec has had to adjust accordingly.

The company has looked at opportunities in other niche markets such as

the Indian Ocean and Australasia, as well as developing floating storage operations in the Indian Ocean, to enhance the supply of pressurised cargo where the supply of refinery gas has reduced significantly.

In addition, the advent of stricter Oil Major Approvals on vessels has led Petredec to dedicate a huge amount of time and energy making sure that the Fleet is compliant with the requirements of the Oil Majors or clients who require such approvals to run their business.

Petredec sees the flexibility and performance developed over the last decade as a leading reason for why the company will play an important role in both the Pressurised LPG and Petrochemical markets in the years to come.

The Caribbean

Established in 1990, Petredec is vigorously involved in the expanding LPG markets in the Caribbean and Central America.

The company is an active participant in providing quality service in a small but growing market, operating a number of dedicated LPG tankers in the area.

Most of the LPG is purchased from producers in Trinidad, Colombia, Venezuela and the USA.

However, cargo originating in North West Europe, the Mediterranean, West Africa or other parts of the world are also acquired through Petredec and transported to the Caribbean and Central America.

By providing an efficient and reliable service, Carib LPG Trading Ltd. is helping to develop the growth in areas such as Dominican Republic, Haiti, Aruba, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Antigua, among others.

Customers include major oil/energy companies: ChevronTexaco, Shell, TotalFinaElf and Valero; state-owned oil companies: Recope (Costa Rica), Petrojam (Jamaica) and Refidomsa (Dominican Republic); and other private companies engaged in the importation and distribution of LPG.