Flex LNG building market presence, eyes more FSRU projects

August 28, 2017

Flex Enterprise, a 173,400 cbm LNG vessel currently under construction at the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering shipyard in South Korea (Image courtesy of Flex LNG)

Oslo-listed Flex LNG, the company controlled by billionaire John Fredriksen and an emerging player in the LNG shipping business, is building its market presence as it awaits the delivery of six liquefied natural gas carriers set for deliveries over the next two years.

Flex LNG currently has six M-type, Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection (MEGI) LNG carriers with a capacity of about 173,400 cbm under construction at Samsung Heavy and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering scheduled for delivery in 2018 and 2019.

The company reported a loss before tax for the second quarter of $6.7m, or $0.03 per share and $7.6m, or $0.03 per share, for the first half of this year.

“We have made significant progress over the past six months as we execute on our strategy of becoming a market leader in LNG transportation and LNG infrastructure services,” said Chief Executive Jonathan Cook who took over as head of the company earlier this year.

LNG tanker Flex Ranger at the Samsung shipyard on Geoje Island (Image: Flex LNG)

According to Cook, the first two out of the six vessels being built at the Korean shipyards are expected to be delivered in the first quarter of next year.

The shipping company had also been operating four vessels chartered-in on short term contracts to establish its presence in the market and develop operations ahead of these deliveries.

FSRU growth

The floating storage and regasification (FSRU) market is poised to grow substantially over the next five years and the company “is actively developing several opportunities ” in this market.

“We have been making good progress developing floating storage and regasification opportunities globally,” Cook said.

Flex says these opportunities may include FSRU newbuildings for long-term charter contracts or conversions of existing vessels.

Worth mentioning, Flex has in June this year signed a deal with US-based LNG terminal developer NextDecade under which Flex would provide a FSRU for the LNG import project at the Port of Cork in Ireland.

NextDecade expects that the Port of Cork facility could support imports of up to 3 mtpa from its proposed Rio Grande LNG export plant in the US.

LNG World News Staff