Dynagas LNG Partners, an owner and operator of LNG carriers, said that it has entered into a new 13-year time-charter contract with Gazprom Marketing & Trading Singapore for the Clean Force, a fully winterized, 149,700 cbm Ice Class LNG carrier built in 2008.
Dynagas LNG also entered into an agreement with BG Group, the current charterer of the Clean Force, to amend, at no cost to the company, the expiration date of the current time-charter contract from the third quarter of 2016 to July 2015, at which time the new Gazprom contract will take effect.
As of April 17, 2014, the amended BG Group charter and the new Gazprom charter, taken together, are expected to increase the company’s average remaining charter term to approximately 6.9 years from an average of approximately 3.0 years and average fleet-wide time charter equivalent rates, calculated for a period of twelve months following the commencement of the new charter to approximately $78,200 per day per vessel from an average of approximately $76,150 per day per vessel based on the company’s three existing vessels.
The Clean Force is expected to be renamed Amur River prior to its delivery to Gazprom.
Press Release, April 18, 2014; Image: Dynagas LNG