LNG

Global LNG fleet growth is lagging behind upcoming export capacity, although IMO data indicates that 2026 deliveries will mark a record year. Yet the 234 newbuild LNG carriers scheduled for 2026–2030 could fall short of transporting the 229 mtpa of new liquefaction capacity due online by 2030, particularly if vessel retirements accelerate. 

May 23 (LNGJ) - Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to some of the largest market players, reported a doubling of first-quarter net income to $33.2 million from $16.5M in the same three months of 2023.

   In quarterly highlights, Flex said it extended the charters by two years for the “Flex Resolute” and “Flex Courageous” until at least the first quarter of 2027 and the “Flex Endeavour” by 500 days to the first quarter of 2032. In its outlook for the second quarter, the company expected time charter equivalent rates to be between $72,000 per day and $74,000 per day.

April 30 (LNGJ) - Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to some of the largest market players, has elected Ola Lorentzon as the new Chairman of the board. Lorentzon replaces David McManus who did not stand for re-election as a director at the Annual General Meeting.

   Lorentzon has served as a director of Flex since June 2017. He served as Principal Executive Officer of Golden Ocean Group from 2010 to 2015 and was Chief Executive of Frontline Management AS from 2000 to 2003. “I am proud to take over the Chairman position after the long-standing stewardship of David McManus, who leaves behind him a company in excellent financial shape, with an attractive contract backlog and with a strong management team. I would like to thank David for his 13 years of service on the board,” stated Lorentzon.

Feb 23 (LNGJ) - Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to some of the largest market players, has seen the charterer of “Flex Courageous”, known to be BP of the UK, exercise its first extension option. The “Flex Courageous” was fixed on a three-year time charter on November 1, 2021, together with the “Flex Resolute” which was also recently extended by two years until 2027.

   “We are pleased that the charterer of ‘Flex Courageous’ has decided to extend the Time Charter in line with what was recently done for ‘Flex Resolute’. This means that earliest redelivery for the ship is 2027 where the charterer has a further option to extend her until 2029,” said Øystein Kalleklev, Chief Executive of Flex LNG Management AS. “Flex LNG has about 94 percent charter coverage for the remaining part of 2024, so we remain well positioned with only one ship, the ‘Flex Constellation’, coming open during the second quarter,” Kalleklev added.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to some of the largest market players, reported a halving of fourth-quarter net profits and forecast a challenging next two years for the sector with more ships in the global fleet.

“We see a somewhat more challenging freight market as there are more ships for delivery compared to the expected new export volumes,” said Øystein Kalleklev, Chief Executive of Flex LNG Management whose charterers include Cheniere of the US and UK major BP.

“Hence, we think Flex LNG is very well positioned as we have 94 percent charter coverage for 2024 and 50 years minimum firm charter backlog, which may increase to 71 years if all charterer’s options are extended,” Kalleklev explained.

Fuel savings

“Additionally, our fleet consists entirely of large LNG carriers fitted with the most modern two-stroke propulsion system resulting in significant fuel savings compared to older generation tonnage,” the CEO added.

Flex earnings showed a halving of fourth-quarter net income to $19.39 million from $41.47M in the same three months of 2022.

Annual net profits dropped to $120.04M from $188.04M in the 2022. Vessel operating revenues in 2023 came to $371.02M versus $347.91M in the previous year.

“The increase is due to a higher proportion of our fleet on improved longer term fixed-rate contracts as well as a relatively stronger spot market compared to 2022,” said Kalleklev.

“This is offset by scheduled dry-dockings of the vessels ‘Flex Enterprise’, ‘Flex Endeavour,’ ‘Flex Ranger’ and ‘Flex Rainbow’ in 2023, resulting in 77 off-hire days,” the CEO said.

Vessel expenses for the fourth quarter came to $97.2M compared with $94.6M for the third quarter 2023.

Average Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) rates amounted to $81,114 per day for the fourth quarter versus $79,207 per day for the third quarter 2023.

Revenues

“We guided that our revenues would increase from $348M in 2022 to approximately $370M in 2023 and we delivered revenues of $371M in 2023, while revenues for the fourth quarter came in at $97.2M in line with quarterly guidance,” Kalleklev stated.

In an overview the LNG fright market, Flex noted that there were 630 live ships in the fleet at the end of 2023, with 210 steamers still in service.

“An additional 33 newbuilds were added to the fleet last year while 68 newbuild orders were placed, representing a significant decrease from the 145 orders in 2022 and 69 newbuilds are scheduled to be delivered in 2024, with seven uncommitted for long-term contracts,” Flex said.

Flex also stated that newbuild prices for the base specifications have “somewhat tapered off” from the peak of $265M, with ship brokers quoting $258M to 262M as of early February 2024.

Awilco LNG, the small Norwegian-based shipping provider with two vessels, managed to swing back to profit in the third quarter as the ships returned from dry dock and said that overall LNG shipping market rates were still at healthy levels though vessels may soon be used for storing LNG with land-based facilities full in the European Union.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to the largest exporters, posted solid net income and increased vessel operating revenues with all ships available after previous dry-dockings.

May 16 (LNGJ) - Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to the largest US exporter Cheniere Energy, reported a fall in first-quarter profits despite a rise in operating revenues. The average time charter equivalent rate declined in the quarter to $80,175 per day compared with $81,699 per day for the fourth quarter of 2022.

   Flex reported vessel operating revenues in the first quarter of $92.47 million compared with $74.57M in the same three months of 2022. Net income dropped to $16.53M from $55.76M in the prior-year quarter. “As we completed the balance sheet optimization program during the first quarter, we had some additional financing costs in our accounts for the first quarter,” explained Øystein M. Kalleklev, Chief Executive of Flex LNG Management AS. “However, we have now put in place new attractive long-term financing for all our 13 ships, boosting our cash balance to $475M at quarter-end, or about $9 per share,” added Kalleklev.

March 24 (LNGJ) - Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to the largest US exporter Cheniere Energy, has signed a new $290 million loan agreement for the refinancing of two vessels, the “Flex Freedom” with 173,400 cubic metres capacity and the “Flex Vigilant” with 174,000 cbm of capacity.

   Flex said that since last month’s earnings report it had also re-financed another four ships during February and in the past 16 months the whole fleet had been refinanced. “We are pleased to have completed our approximately $2 billion refinancing process according to plan and on schedule despite the recent turmoil in the financial markets,” said Knut Traaholt, Chief Financial Officer of Flex LNG Management AS.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels and several chartered to the largest US exporter Cheniere Energy, reported lower fourth-quarter net income and revenues from a year ago though expects an increase in revenues for all of 2023 even amid off-hires for four ships undergoing surveys.