LNG

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.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 modern vessels, said it had extended the time-charters for three ships with Cheniere Energy, owner of the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi exporting plants on the Gulf Coast, and meaning that Cheniere now has five Flex vessels chartered.

Flex LNG, the Norwegian shipping company with a fleet of 13 carriers, has given an overview of the current LNG market in March 2022 and the various arbitrage windows values and netbacks.

Nov 16 (LNGJ) - Flex LNG, the shipping company with a fleet of 13 vessels, reported higher third-quarter revenues of $81.8 million and increased quarterly net income to $32.8M. “In the fourth quarter, we will also be handsomely rewarded for maintaining a 30 percent exposure to the spot market as the spot market is currently at all-time highs,” said Øystein Kalleklev, Chief Executive of Flex LNG Management AS.

   The Bermuda-based company’s average time charter equivalent rates were $68,341 per day for the third quarter, up from $57,780 per day in the previous three months. “Since April, we have secured long-term fixed hire employment for eight of our ships, with an option for a ninth,” said Kalleklev. “Our firm contract backlog is now about 33 years with a further 36 years of optional backlog,” added the CEO.