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The shipping company revealed this in its second-quarter results report.
According to the report, the LNG carrier in question is the 2016-built 173,400-cbm, Seapeak Oak.
During June 2024, Seapeak refinanced the LNG carrier by acquiring the vessel from its original lessor for a total cost of $120.8 million, and then selling the vessel to another lessor for $145.3 million, and leasing it back for a period of 8 years, it said.
Seapeak did not provide further information regarding the lessors.
VesselsValue data suggests that the original lessor was China’s CMB Financial Leasing.
According to Seapak’s previous financial reports, the vessel is on a long-term charter to a unit of China’s ENN.
As a result of this refinancing transaction, Seapeak recognized a loss of $2.7 million on the extinguishment of the original financing arrangement.
The quarterly charter-hire payments to be made by the company consist of a fixed amount plus variable amounts based on SOFR plus a margin.
Seapeak said it is obligated to repurchase the vessel at the end of the lease term for $45 million.
49 LNG carriers
Seapeak said in March in its 2023 report that it was pursuing various opportunities relating to six of its LNG carriers which are scheduled to complete their charter contracts between June 2024 and June 2025.
The six LNG carriers are Seapeak Hispania, Seapeak Catalunya, Seapeak Madrid, Seapeak Vancouver, Seapeak Methane, and Seapeak Magellan.
Seapeak did not provide further information regarding these vessels in the new financial report.
It only said that Seapeak Hispania is being temporarily idle between the scheduled completion of its previous charter contract and commencement of its new short-term charter contract.
It previously worked as an FSU for Deutsche ReGas for the Lumbin LNG project in Germany.
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 at June 30, 2024, Seapeak’s fleet included 49 LNG carriers and one LNG regasification terminal in Bahrain, in which the company’ss interests ranged from 20 percent to 100 percent.
This also includes five LNG carriers under construction at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy.