Uniper Signs LNG Carrier Charter

Oslo-listed shipowner Flex LNG said last week it had agreed to charter out its newest LNG carrier to German energy supplier and trader Uniper.

Flex Endeavour, a state-of-the-art 173,400 m^³ LNG carrier, is being built at the Daewoo (DSME) shipyard in South Korea. The time charter period is for 15 to 18 months, starting the day it arrives from the shipyard this month. "This charter [to Uniper] formalises the arrangement that was agreed for the extension of the chartered-in vessel from April 2018," said Flex LNG December 28, thus bringing forward the delivery date to coincide with the delivery of the vessel in the first half of January 2018.

Uniper management last month again urged shareholders not to accept a €8.05bn ($9.5bn) takeover offer by Finnish state-run utility Fortum, arguing that Fortum lacked trading experience. 

Uniper signed two long-term charters for LNG carriers with Japanese shipowner Mitsui OSK Lines and separately reached agreements to secure 0.8mn metric ton/yr liquefaction capacity over 20 years at the Freeport LNG export project on the Texas US Gulf coast. Freeport LNG is due to open in 2018, according to the International Energy Agency's Gas 2017 report, published November 2017.

Flex LNG also said it has fulfilled the closing conditions for the term loan facility for the first three LNG carrier newbuildings and would use the loan facility in connection with the deliveries of these vessels.

Update 2pm: Monaco-based, Oslo-listed LNG shipowner GasLog said January 2 it has ordered a newbuild 180,000  m³ from South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries that is scheduled to deliver in 3Q2019, adding that it is currently unchartered but that "its early delivery means that it is expected to deliver into a strong LNG shipping market."