Teekay LNG Partners Signs Charter Contracts
Teekay LNG Partners L.P. — which is headquartered in Bermuda — has announced [June 7] that it has entered into two, five-year time-charter contracts with Cheniere Marketing, LLC to provide them with Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG] transportation services.
The fixed-rate time-charter contracts will be serviced by the two 173,400 cubic meter LNG carrier newbuildings ordered by Teekay LNG in December, 2012.
The newbuildings are currently under construction by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering of South Korea and are scheduled to be delivered in the first half of 2016.
The newbuildings will be constructed with M-type, Electronically Controlled, Gas Injection [MEGI] twin engines, which are designed to be significantly more fuel-efficient and have lower emission levels than other engines currently being used in LNG shipping.
“We are excited to be supporting Cheniere, which will be exporting volumes from the Sabine Pass LNG export facility, the first LNG export facility project in the contiguous United States to receive approval for LNG exports,” commented Peter Evensen, Chief Executive Officer of Teekay GP LLC. “This is a pioneering transaction which combines one of the first U.S. LNG export facilities with the first MEGI-propelled LNG carriers to be chartered.”
Mr. Evensen continued, “With this transaction, the Partnership is once again able to provide investors with visible distributable cash flow growth that we expect to build on due to the strong fundamentals of the LNG transportation markets we see developing commencing from 2016. The Partnership is also bidding on several other LNG and floating regasification projects.”
Teekay LNG Partners is the world’s third largest independent owner and operator of LNG carriers, providing LNG, LPG and crude oil marine transportation services primarily under long-term, fixed-rate charter contracts with major energy and utility companies through its interests in 29 LNG carriers [including one LNG regasification unit and two newbuildings], 29 LPG/Multigas carriers (including five chartered-in LPG carriers and eight newbuildings) and 11 conventional tankers.
The Partnership’s interests in these vessels range from 33 to 100 percent. Teekay LNG Partners L.P. is a publicly-traded master limited partnership [MLP] formed by Teekay Corporation — which also maintains its corporate head office in Bermuda — as part of its strategy to expand its operations in the LNG and LPG shipping sectors.
Teekay LNG Partners’ common units trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “TGP”.
