Golar Charters Old FSRU to Unnamed Player
Golar LNG Partners said January 19 it has executed a 15-year charter with an unnamed “energy and logistics company” to provide a floating storage and regasification unit in the Atlantic Basin.
The London-based, Bermuda-registered shipowner has the flexibility to nominate either Golar Spirit or Golar Freeze to service the contract provided that the nominated FSRU satisfies certain technical specifications ahead of project start-up, due 4Q2018.
The vessel is expected to remain in service for up to 15 years without drydock, so will undergo minor modifications prior to service. Golar LNG Partners said the charter rate will vary according to demand for regasification, but includes a cap and floor, and such should provide operating income of $18mn-$22mn/yr. It includes an option after 3 years for the charterer to terminate the contract only if certain targets are not met. The charter also includes a 5-year extension option.
Built 1981, Golar Spirit was converted to become the world's FSRU, arrived in Pecem in Brazil on charter to Petrobras a decade ago, but the latter terminated its ten-year charter a year early in mid-2017. Its regas capacity is just 2.5bn m³/yr. New FSRUs can regasify up to three times as much, but their annual charter rates have typically been for $40m-$45mn.
Dubai Supply Authority took out a charter on Golar Freeze that was to have run until May 2020, but has also been shortened by one year. It has 4bn m3/yr regas capacity and has been moored at Jebel Ali, Dubai and is also roughly a decade into its service as an FSRU.
Golar Partners CEO Graham Robjohns said the charter "reflects growing interest in smaller, cost competitive FSRUs that can facilitate the opening of niche markets previously considered uneconomic for LNG."