Nakilat inks yet another mega shipping deal

This agreement covers the 4 "Q-Flex" and 4 "Q-Max" LNG vessels ordered by Nakilat from Korean shipyards Daewoo and Samsung just over a week ago.

This latest accomplishment increases the Nakilat fleet to 25 wholly-owned large LNG carriers. In addition to the wholly-owned ships, Nakilat has an ownership stake (43% on average) in 29 other LNG vessels, all of which are backed by 25-year time charters.

According to Muhammad Ghannam, Nakilat's Managing Director, "these 8 vessels, once delivered from the shipyards between October 2009 and February 2010, will be dedicated to the carriage of LNG for the Qatargas 4 project. The Qatargas 4 project at Ras Laffan will have a production of approximately 7.8 million tons/year with an expected start-up date in 2010."

"This is another significant milestone in our goal of locking in secure long-term employment contracts for our fleet, which ensures significant stable cash flow to our operations and ultimately to our shareholders," said Ghannam.

Earlier, Nakilat entered into similar long-term agreements with Qatargas II for 6 "Q-Max" vessels and Qatargas 3 for 7 "Q-Flex" and 3 "Q-Max" vessels. Moving forward, we'll continue to strive to identify additional high-yield investment opportunities to maximize returns to our shareholders.