Cheniere Power (NYSE:LNG) mentioned Monday it’s shunning the Panama Canal to move liquefied pure gasoline to Asia, as a months-long drought has led to delays and depth restrictions for the biggest ships accessing the canal.

“We use the canal when it’s economical to take action [but] proper now it isn’t,” Cheniere (LNG) COO Corey Grindal mentioned, based on Reuters. “Proper now the market within the Far East is just not supporting it, and the ready time, with us not being a precedence buyer, is simply not price us utilizing it proper now.”

Different routes to Asia embody crusing by way of the Suez Canal or a month-long journey round South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

Cheniere (LNG) expects to learn from a rising Asian market with elevated demand from international locations in South and Southeast Asia, COO Anatol Feygin mentioned.

The COO mentioned China would be the world’s high LNG purchaser this 12 months, after importing 64M metric tons final 12 months, and certain rising to 100M tons/12 months sooner or later.

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