Monaco-based owner and operator of gas carriers GasLog Ltd. has agreed to charter three of its uncontracted 174,000 cbm LNG carriers that are currently under construction to Methane Services Ltd. (MSL), a subsidiary of BG Group.
MSL will charter three newbuilds commencing mid-2018 and early 2019 for average initial terms of approximately 9.5 years.
These charters will add approximately USD 845 million of fixed rate revenue to GasLog’s existing contracted revenue backlog.
Two of the vessels are being built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, and one by Samsung Heavy Industries. The LNG carriers are scheduled to deliver in late 2017.
MSL also has an option to elect to charter an additional six newbuilds for average initial terms of approximately 10 years, provided it makes that election within 2015.
The six option vessels would add approximately USD 1.8 billion of fixed rate contracted revenue to GasLog. If MLS exercises the option, it will take earlier delivery of the three firm newbuilds immediately upon their delivery from the shipyards in 2017.
MSL has also decided to adjust the three existing charters on the GasLog Shanghai, GasLog Santiago and GasLog Sydney (all owned by GasLog Partners).
The company will lengthen two of the existing charters by approximately 4 months and shorten one charter by 8 months, retaining the existing extension options of two consecutive periods of three or four years on all three vessels.
”Today’s transaction adds up to nine vessels under long-term contracts to GasLog Partners’ dropdown pipeline, giving us additional visible growth for multiple years,” Andy Orekar, CEO of GasLog Partners, said.
”The immediate addition of three firm charters brings our total current pipeline to 15 LNG carriers, which would increase further to 21 vessels if MSL exercises its option for the six additional newbuildings. With this enhanced pipeline of vessels and the agreement by GasLog to compensate for any shortening of existing charters, GasLog Partners continues to be well positioned for future growth.”