Flex LNG and Cheniere agree to extend charters for three LNG carriers

Norwegian shipping company Flex LNG has secured an extension of time charter agreements with Cheniere’s unit Cheniere Marketing International (CMI) for three liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.

The new agreement extends the charter periods of Flex Endeavour, Flex Ranger and Flex Vigilant for up to an additional 19 years in aggregate.

Prior to this agreement, the three ships have about six years in aggregate of the remaining firm charter period.

Now, CMI has declared the original 1+1-year optional periods for all three vessels. Additionally, the companies have agreed to an extension of the existing time charter agreements for Flex Endeavour and Flex Vigilant. The new period is for up to 1,800 days (additional approximate five years) for both Flex Endeavour and Flex Vigilant.

The Flex Ranger will be redelivered to Flex LNG in the period between March and April 2027 after completing her original 5.5-year time charter with CMI.

Commenting on the agreement, Øystein Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management, said: “We are today pleased to announce the extension of another three ships, this time with CMI which is a major customer of Flex LNG which we share a very good working relationship with. Today we have five ships on charter with CMI as we this year also delivered Flex Volunteer and recently Flex Aurora on time charters to them.

“With this agreement, CMI will continue to charter these three ships for an aggregate period of up to 25 years with a minimum period of around 20 years in aggregate. In addition, there is about 6.5 years of minimum backlog for Flex Volunteer and Flex Aurora with CMI with an additional 4 years of optional backlog for these two ships. Together with CMI, we will thus ensure safe and low-emission transportation of LNG to a fuel-starved world.”

Corey Grindal, EVP, of Worldwide Trading, Cheniere Energy, added: “We are pleased to extend these three charters with Flex LNG and to further build upon the strong relationship between our two companies. This extension will help us to continue to safely meet growing global demand for the cleaner, reliable energy provided by LNG.”

Follow Offshore Energy’s Clean Fuel on social media: