Stonepeak’s Seapeak is pursuing various opportunities relating to six of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers which are scheduled to complete their current charter contracts between June 2024 and June 2025.
The shipping company said in its 2023 results report that the six LNG carriers are Seapeak Hispania, Seapeak Catalunya, Seapeak Madrid, Seapeak Vancouver, Seapeak Methane, and Seapeak Magellan.
“In anticipation of the scheduled expiry of these time charters, we are pursuing various opportunities relating to the vessels, which may include the exercise of extension options, redeployment under new time charters, disposition, or other opportunities, all of which will depend on evolving market conditions,” it said.
The report shows that the 2002-built 137,818 cbm, Seapeak Hispania, is currently on charter to Deutsche ReGas until June 2024, while the 2003-built 135,423 cbm, Seapeak Catalunya, is currently on charter with Eni’s unit LNG Shipping until October 2024, and the charterer has one option to extend the term by up to one year.
In addition, the 2004-built 135,423-cbm, Seapeak Madrid, is currently on charter to Shell International Trading Middle East until December 2024.
These three carriers feature steam turbine propulsion.
Seapeak noted in the report that that “the higher emissions of our steam vessels relative to more modern vessels could make it more difficult to secure employment for these vessels and reduce the rates at which we can charter these vessels to its customers.”
New charter deal
Besides these three steam LNG vessels, the 2008-built 165,000-cbm Seapeak Methane, will complete its current charter contract in June 2024.
Seapeak said it has secured a new charter deal for this vessel in February 2024 with Qalhat LNG after its charter contract with Trafigura expired in January 2024.
Also, the 2017-built 173,400-cbm, Seapeak Vancouver, is currently on charter to Petrobras and this contract expires in March 2025.
As per the 2009-built 165,700-cbm, Seapeak Magellan, in August 2023, the MALT joint venture, in which Seapeak holds 52 percent, entered into an agreement with TotalEnergies to exchange the charter contracts for the remainder of the contract periods between Seapeak Magellan and Seapeak Marib effective May 2024, it said.
Consequently, Seapeak Marib’s contract is expected to expire in June 2025 and Seapeak Magellan’s contract is extended to April 2026, the firm said.
49 LNG carriers
Teekay LNG Partners rebranded as Seapeak in 2022 following the completion of its $6.2 billion merger deal with New York-based private equity firm Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners.
As of December 30, 2023, the company’s LNG fleet included 49 LNG carriers, including five LNG carriers under construction at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy, and 38 NGL carriers.
The LNG fleet includes 24 LNG carriers that are accounted for under the equity method, while Seapeak also has a 30 percent interest in one LNG receiving and regasification terminal in Bahrain.