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The LNG shipping firm said in its quarterly results report that it has four LNG carriers, including one 52 percent-owned LNG carrier, that have recently completed their long-term charter contracts and are without charter contracts.
These include three steam turbine LNG carriers that were placed in layup in early 2025.
Seapeak did not reveal the name of the vessels, but looking at the report, the vessels should be the 2002-built 137,814-cbm Seapeak Hispania, the 2003-built 135,423-cbm, Seapeak Catalunya, and the 2004-built 135,423-cbm, Seapeak Madrid.
In addition, Seapeak has two 52 percent-owned LNG carriers that are scheduled to complete their long-term charter contracts in April and May 2025, the company said.
“LNG project delays have caused a near-term oversupply of LNG carriers and as a result, our results for 2025 may be negatively impacted to the extent that there are periods within 2025 that we have LNG carriers without charter contracts or we have rechartered our LNG carriers at rates lower than they earned on their prior charter contracts,” Seapeak said.
The company said in March in its 2023 report that it was pursuing various opportunities related 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.
Values written down
As at December 31, 2024, Seapeak’s LNG fleet included seven steam turbine LNG carriers, the oldest vessels in its LNG fleet.
As mentioned above, three of these vessels were placed in layup in early 2025, while the remaining four are scheduled to complete their long-term charter contracts between late-2026 and mid-2029, Sepeak said.
“We have made downward revisions to the outlook for this class of older vessel based on a combination of an oversupply of this type of vessel and reduced charterer interest due to their less efficient design,” the company said.
“As such, we have reduced our future hire rate forecast and our estimate of their useful lives from 35 years to 25 years, and increased our estimate of the likelihood that three of the vessels may be sold in 2025,” Seapeak said.
As a result of these changes, the carrying values of these vessels were written down to their estimated fair values in December 2024 resulting in an impairment charge of $387.1 million, according to Seapeak.
50 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 31, 2024, Sepeak’s LNG fleet included 50 LNG carriers, the report shows.
This includes five LNG carriers under construction and one LNG regasification terminal in Bahrain.
Seapeak’s interest in these vessels ranges from 20 percent to 100 percent.