Flex LNG vessel staying with Cheniere until 2032

Bermuda-headquartered liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping company Flex LNG has landed a long-term extension of a time charter agreement for one of its LNG carriers.

Thanks to the latest extension, the firm period of the time charter agreement for the LNG carrier Flex Endeavour has been extended by 500 days, from 3Q 2030 to 1Q 2032. The vessel was initially chartered by Cheniere Marketing International (CMI) with two other LNG carriers, Flex Vigilant and Flex Ranger.

The original 1+1-year optional period was exercised in November 2022 for all three vessels, while the charterer now has a further one-year option to extend the time charter period for the Flex Endeavour to 2033.

Øystein Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management, commented: “We are glad to share another contract extension, bringing the total to three so far this year and evidencing the fact that our charterers like the service we provide.

“We have so far added about 4.4 years of additional firm backlog while we have been consuming about 3.6 years of backlog, thus putting us at a slight surplus in terms of contract backlog. With this extension, our total firm backlog stands at a solid 51 years, which may increase to 69 years in the event charterers are utilizing all their extension options.”  

The 2018-built Flex Endeavour has a cargo capacity of 173,400 cubic meters and features a two-stroke, low-speed propulsion, M-type, electronically controlled, gas injection (MEGI) engine. Built by Hanwha Ocean, this is one of the 13 vessels in Flex LNG’s fleet, 11 of which are on long-term fixed-rate charter contracts, while one is on a variable hire time charter.

This year, the shipping player landed a contract extension for its LNG carrier Flex Courageous and secured an extension of the charter of its LNG carrier Flex Resolute. Both will be on a fixed-hire contract until 1Q 2027.