Malaysia’s LNG shipper MISC, a unit of Petronas, has sold two of its liquefied natural gas carriers to Japan’s Nissen Kaiun.
MISC said in a statement on Tuesday it has entered into a partnership deal with Nissen Kaiun under which it will transfer ownership of the two existing LNG carriers to the latter, and simultaneously enter into a charter agreement.
Eaglestar and Synergy Marine will be the shipmanagers.
MISC did not provide the name of the vessels or the duration of the charter.
The firm said it expects to deliver the first of the two vessels to Nissen Kaiun in the fourth quarter of 2023.
MISC’s president and CEO Rajalingam Subramaniam said in the statement that this “strategic transaction is a testament to MISC’s commitment to enhancing our financial flexibility and our ability to adapt to evolving industry dynamics.”
“This is part of our MISC 2030 business strategy to unlock value, maximizing returns from our gas portfolio, whilst growing commercial and operational scale for our shipping segment,” he said.
MISC is one of the largest operators of LNG carriers and most of them are on long-term charters.
It operates a fleet of 30 LNG carriers and two floating storage units.
MISC’s LNG business logged a rise in both revenue and operating profit in the April-June period.