Greek LNG fleet owner GasLog reports falls in profit amid new charters and huge ship refinancing deal
GasLog Ltd., the Greek LNG fleet owner and operator with 33 ships, reported a drop in quarterly earnings while new charter agreements were signed along with a re-financing deal covering 23 carriers in the fleet.
The company’s profits for the fourth quarter more than halved to $31.44 million from $68.70M in the prior-year quarter.
GasLog’s annual profits dropped by around $100M to $196.30M in 2023 from the $297.24M logged in 2022.
The company, whose headquarters are in Hamilton, Bermuda, said adjusted fourth-quarter profits declined to $53.27 million from $75.57M in the same three months of 2022 ,while revenues also fell to $229.94M from $244.84M a year ago.
Charter extension
During the quarter GasLog extended by five years the time-charter agreement of the “GasLog Singapore”, a tri-fuel, diesel-electric (TFDE) LNG carrier, with New York-based New Fortress Energy. The contract is now due to expire in 2030.
In addition, the company’s affiliate, GasLog Partners LP, signed a multi-year time-charter with a major energy exploration company for the “GasLog Santiago”, also a TFDE vessel.
A third charter deal was for the carrier, “Methane Jane Elizabeth”, a steam turbine propulsion ship, and signed with Cheniere Marketing International, a unit of Houston, Texas-based Cheniere Energy. The contract is now due to expire in 2025.
GasLog also signed a new $2.8 billion five-year banking deal in the form of a senior secured revolving credit facility in November 2023.
“Involving 14 international banks, the facility refinanced the outstanding debt of $2.1Bln secured by 23 LNG carriers across both GasLog and GasLog Partners, following the acquisition by GasLog in July 2023 of all the outstanding common units of GasLog Partners,” explained GasLog Ltd.
Refinanced ships
The 23 LNG carriers, comprising 12 GasLog vessels and 11 GasLog Partners ships, include 10 dual-fuel two-stroke engine propulsion (X-DF) carriers, 10 TFDE vessels and three steam-propelled carriers.
“The facility has a five-year tenor, including two one-year extension options and simplifies GasLog’s debt structure, providing incremental available liquidity while reducing interest cost and debt service requirements,” GasLog Ltd added.
The GasLog board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per common share of GasLog to GasLog’s shareholders of record as of February 15, 2024.
At the end of December, GasLog had $221.4M of cash and cash equivalents and an additional amount of $10M of time deposits.
GasLog additionally had $3.1bln of debts outstanding under its credit facilities and bond agreements, of which $107.9M is repayable within one year.
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