Höegh LNG completes purchase for $184M of ‘Golar Seal’ carrier to be renamed ‘Höegh Gandria’
Höegh LNG Holdings, the owner of 10 floating storage and regasification units and two conventional LNG carrier, has completed the acquisition of the LNG carrier “Golar Seal”.
The company purchased the 2013-built “Golar Seal” from Cool Co., the LNG shipping joint venture led by Eastern Pacific Shipping.
Höegh LNG paid $184.3M for the vessel with 160,000 cubic metres of capacity.
Hamilton, Bermuda-based, Höegh also assumed all costs associated with the vessel's scheduled dry-docking.
Höegh said that the “Golar Seal” would also be renamed the “Höegh Gandria”.
Höegh last month reported net losses for the fourth quarter and the year during a busy period as three vessels were prepared for floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) operations in Germany and Brazil.
Höegh still posted increased revenues during the last three months of 2022 amounting to $106.06M, up from $94.66M in the same quarter of 2021. Full-year revenues rose to $380.8M from $351.8M in 2021.
FSRU market
The company increased vessel operating expenses primarily related to repositioning of three vessels to make them ready for FSRU operations.
All three vessels completed their FSRU operational preparations at shipyards during the fourth quarter and two 10-year time charter contracts with the German Federal Government were signed in December and January respectively.
The company’s FSRUs “Höegh Esperanza” and “Höegh Gannet” were allocated to contracts and deployed in Germany at the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven and at Brunsbüttel on the Elbe River north of Hamburg.
The third vessel, “Höegh Giant”, left the yard in November and was operating in the LNG carrier market on an interim charter before it was scheduled to go to Brazil in the second quarter of 2023.
Höegh signed a 10-year charter agreement with a Brazilian joint venture comprising São Paulo Regas Company and Comgás, Brazil’s largest gas distributor.
Höegh added in its earnings statement that its business development team was in “active dialogue” with several potential new projects looking for FSRU capacity which could provide growth opportunities for the group in the future.
Höegh LNG Holdings seals São Paulo FSRU charter in Brazil after successful Australian FLNG accord
Höegh LNG Holdings has signed a 10-year charter agreement for one of its floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs) with the joint venture, the São Paulo Regas Company (TSRP) in Brazil.
The São Paulo facility will operated for TSRP, a subsidiary of Compass Gás and Energy and Comgás, Brazil’s largest gas distributor.
The Höegh LNG vessel, the “Höegh Gannet”, is assigned to the charter and operations are expected to start in late 2022 or early 2023.
The “Höegh Gannet” has cargo capacity of 170,000 cubic metres and regasification capacity of 1 billion standard cubic feet per day.
It is Höegh LNG’s second major charter deal in 2021 after Australian Industrial Energy (AIE) signed a long-term charter in November for an FSRU to operate at Port Kembla, south of Sydney
Under that agreement, the FSRU vessel “Höegh Galleon”, the newest FSRU in Höegh LNG’s fleet, will serve as the terminal.
The 170,000 cubic metres capacity “Höegh Galleon” has send-out capacity of 750 million standard cubic feet per day.
Collaboration
In addition, AIE and Höegh LNG agreed to collaborate on the future design and development of a new generation FSRUs capable of receiving clean fuels which can be used as part of “future green energy” supply chains.
Höegh LNG Holdings was acquired in a takeover by Norwegian interests and a unit of US investment bank Morgan Stanley.
Höegh shareholders approved an offer in March 2021 by a joint venture formed by Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Leif Höegh & Co., a family-owned shareholding for the takeover.
Höegh rival GasLog Ltd, the Greek-based LNG shipping fleet owner with 35 vessels currently operating, agreed a merger earlier in 2021 with a unit of US investment firm BlackRock.
GasLog entered into a merger agreement with BlackRock’s Global Energy & Power Infrastructure, part of the New York-based firm focused on long-term infrastructure investments in the energy and power sectors.
Shell seals complicated $380M deal to exit Brazilian natural gas distribution business
Royal Dutch Shell completed the sale of its minority interest in Comgas, Brazil’s largest natural gas distributor, for cash and shares amounting to $380 million as it continues to offload assets that are not part of the core business.
