GasLog charters LNG newbuild to Total

Monaco-based owner and operator of LNG carriers, GasLog said on Monday it has signed a time charter party with a unit of French energy giant Total to charter “Hull 2801” for a period of seven years.

According to GasLog, Hull 2801 was the shipping company’s only newbuild vessel without a multi-year contract.

The vessel is currently under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea and is due to be delivered in 2018.

The charter with Total Gas & Power Chartering Limited will start in mid-2018 at a date to be finalized ahead of the commencement of the charter, GasLog said, adding that a further option period of three years has been granted at the charterer’s option.

Following the charter of this vessel, all of GasLog’s six remaining newbuild vessels have firm, long-term charters of between 7 and 10 years.

“The daily charter rate is in line with GasLog’s average long-term charter rate and the gross contracted revenue from the contract is approximately $190 million over the seven-year firm period,” the shipping company said.

GasLog Partners has the right to acquire Hull 2801 pursuant to the omnibus agreement between GasLog and GasLog Partners. Securing a seven-year charter on this vessel extends GasLog Partners’ dropdown pipeline of future vessels from twelve to thirteen.

“The charter rate is consistent with long-term industry averages, demonstrating the resilience of long term charter rates against the volatility of the short term market. The contracted EBITDA from this vessel means that GasLog has over $180 million of annualized in-built EBITDA from its eight newbuilds, two of which have already been delivered this year,” said Paul Wogan, Chief Executive Officer of GasLog.