LNG

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.

Cool Company Ltd, the LNG shipping joint venture formed between Eastern Pacific Shipping and Golar LNG has issued a business and financial update as it builds a modern fleet and prepares for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange after last year’s initial public offering.

Feb 20 (LNGJ) - Höegh LNG Holdings has signed a deal with CoolCo, a shipping investor group including Eastern Pacific Shipping and Golar LNG, to acquire the 2013-built LNG carrier “Golar Seal” with 160,000 cubic metres of capacity for an undisclosed sum. “The purchase price is in line with current market level for similar vessels. Höegh LNG expects to take delivery of the vessel in late March or April 2023 and subsequently employ the vessel in the carrier market on a term time charter,” said Höegh LNG.

   “We are very pleased to make this investment which underpins our growth ambitions. The vessel will be an excellent addition to our fleet, and provide flexibility to pursue FSRU conversion opportunities,” said Erik Nyheim, the President and Chief Executive of Höegh LNG.

Golar LNG, the shipping company now specialising in a small but growing fleet of floating LNG project vessels, increased revenues as well as net profits due to one-items while forecasting future high revenues from floating liquefaction and FLNG terminal projects as it also spun off eight modern carriers to a joint venture.

The South American nation of Chile has imported 2.23 million tonnes of LNG during the first 10 months of the year, down 5.7 percent on the same period of 2018 as pipeline gas supplies from Argentina have provided competition.