Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat), the world’s largest shipper of liquefied natural gas (LNG), revealed a seven per cent drop in second-quarter net profit, missing analysts’ forecasts.

Profit at Nakilat, which carries LNG to countries as far afield as China, Spain and the US, fell to QR166.5 million ($45.77 million), according to Reuters calculations, from QR179.29 million a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected quarterly profit of QR207 million.

“The key weakness was in income from fully owned vessels. There can sometimes be a delay or lag in revenue between the time the vessels are delivered and the time of deployment. Over the past six months they have had a lot of vessels delivered and deployed,” said Redwan Ahmed, an analyst at EFG Hermes in Dubai.

“But from Q3 onward, there should not be this variance. We don’t expect this to be a problem going forward,” he said.