Flex LNG announced an extension of the Time Charter Agreements with Cheniere Marketing International LLP  for the three LNG carriers Flex Endeavour, Flex Ranger and Flex Vigilant. Prior to this agreement, the three ships have about 6 years in aggregate of remaining firm charter period, and the new agreement extends the charter periods for up to an additional 19 years in aggregate.

Under the agreement, CMI early declares the original 1+1-year optional periods for all the three vessels. Additionally, Flex LNG and CMI have agreed to an extension of the existing Time Charter Agreements for Flex Endeavour and Flex Vigilant. The new period is for up to 1,800 days (additional approx. 5 years) for both Flex Endeavour and Flex Vigilant.

The minimum firm extension period for Flex Endeavour is 1,300 days from Q1-2027 to Q3-2030. In addition, CMI has a 500-days extension option to be declarable in Q2-2024 for the period Q3-2030 to Q1-2032. In the event this 500-days option is declared, CMI will also have the option to extend Flex Endeavour for a further one-year period from Q1-2032 to Q1-2033.

The minimum firm extension period for Flex Vigilant is 1,600 days from Q2-2026 to Q4-2030. In addition, CMI has a 200-days extension option to be declarable in Q3-2023 for the period Q3-2030 to Q2-2031. In the event this 200-days option is declared, CMI will also have the option to further extend Flex Vigilant for a two-year period from Q2-2031 to Q2-2033.

The Flex Ranger will thus be redelivered to Flex LNG in the period between March or April 2027 after completing her original 5.5-year Time Charter with CMI.

Øystein Kalleklev, CEO of Flex LNG Management AS commented:

“We are today pleased to announce extension of another three ships, this time with CMI which is a major customer of Flex LNG which we share a very good working relationship with. Today we have five ships on charter with CMI as we this year also delivered Flex Volunteer and recently Flex Aurora on Time Charters to them.

What we also appreciate is that we once again are announcing extension of ships with an existing first-class charterer which clearly demonstrates the attractiveness of not only our fuel-efficient LNG carriers, but also the high service level of professionalism of the entire organization from seafarers to the people onshore.

With this agreement, CMI will continue to charter these three ships for an aggregate period of up to 25 years with a minimum period of around 20 years in aggregate. In addition, there is about 6.5 years of minimum backlog for Flex Volunteer and Flex Aurora with CMI with an additional 4 years of optional backlog for these two ships. Together with CMI we will thus ensure safe and low emission transportation of LNG to a fuel starved world.

At the same time, we are further increasing earnings visibility and our minimum contractual backlog. Following this agreement our minimum contractual backlog is about 63 years or about 5 years on average per ship. As part of the agreement, we also have a firm redelivery slot for the Flex Ranger in early 2027 which is then our first fully open ship. This means we can market Flex Ranger for new business opportunities as this ship has an earlier redelivery than the delivery slots that yards today can offer for a newbuilding.”

Corey Grindal, EVP, Worldwide Trading, Cheniere Energy, Inc commented:

“We are pleased to extend these three charters with Flex LNG Ltd and to further build upon the strong relationship between our two companies. This extension will help us to continue to safely meet growing global demand for the cleaner, reliable energy provided by LNG. As one the largest producers of LNG worldwide, Cheniere is ideally positioned to collaborate with partners across the LNG value chain to improve overall emissions in the industry and advance the global transition to a lower-carbon future. These large Flex LNG vessels are some of the most efficient available on the market and align with our efforts to continue to lower overall fleet emissions.”