Dynagas Pushes Purchase Options for LNG Carrier Duo

Owner and operator of natural gas carriers Dynagas LNG Partners LP has decided to extend the deadline for exercising the purchase options relating to two LNG carriers from its parent Dynagas Ltd.

The two ships are Clean Horizon and the Clean Vision, the purchase of which was set for July 2017 and January 2018, respectively.

Dynagas LNG Partners said that the deadline was pushed to December 31, 2018.

The announcement came as the company reported a net income of USD 5.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2017 and USD 17.3 million for the full year, slashed from corresponding USD 15.4 and USD 66.8 million reported in 2016.

According to Tony Lauritzen, Chief Executive Officer of the company, the results were in line with expectations.

As explained, the weaker results were due to the temporary employment of the Clean Energy on the spot market until July 2018, when the vessel will commence a time charter with Gazprom for an eight-year term, and the longer term contracts that followed the decision to reduce the charter hire rate on the Yenisei River and the Lena River, with effect from November 2016, in exchange for securing the long-term charter with Gazprom.

“These transactions contributed substantially to our contracted backlog, thereby enhancing significantly our revenue visibility,” Lauritzen said.

On December 20, 2017, the company entered into a new three-year charter agreement with Statoil for the employment of the 2013-built Arctic Aurora, its 155,000 cbm LNG carrier.

The new charter for the Arctic Aurora is expected to commence in the third quarter of 2018 in direct continuation of the current charter with Statoil, following the vessel’s mandatory statutory class five-year special survey and dry-docking. Statoil will have options to extend this charter by two consecutive 12-month periods at escalated rates.

“With our fleet 85 pct contracted through 2018, 92 pct contracted through 2019 and 100 pct contracted through 2020, and with an estimated fleet-wide average remaining contract duration of 10.4 years, we believe we have significant cash flow visibility. We expect to increase contract coverage going forward on the back of an improving LNG shipping market,” Lauritzen added.

Monaco-based Dynagas LNG Partners has a fleet of six LNG carriers, with an aggregate carrying capacity of approximately 914,000 cbm.