Nasdaq-listed Golar LNG Partners, a limited partnership formed by Golar LNG, has agreed to amend a charter deal it has with Dubai Supply Authority for the Golar Freeze FSRU.
DUSUP has two floating storage and regasification units on contract and does not currently have full time use for Golar Freeze.
The two companies have been working together to find alternative employment for the FSRU but in the meantime they have agreed certain amendments to the existing charter that was due to end in May 2020.
The duo has agreed to shorten the charter by one year and to remove DUSUP’s termination for convenience rights and extension option rights which ran to 2024.
Golar Partners said it will receive the right to terminate its obligations under the charter whilst continuing to receive the capital element of the charter until the end of the new charter period in April 2019.
“The operating cost element of the charter will be reduced to a nominal amount from November 2017 and Golar Partners will similarly save operating costs from putting the vessel into layup pending new employment,” it said.
Golar Partners noted in the statement that it sees several opportunities for employment of smaller scale FSRU’s like Golar Freeze and Golar Spirit which have “significantly lower capital cost than newbuild FSRU’s.”
“This arrangement gives both parties more certainty and enables Golar Partners to re-market the vessel with the clear knowledge of her long term availability from 2018,” it added.