According to a stock exchange announcement by Cosco Shipping Development, its unit Oriental Fleet Shipping entered into a memorandum of agreement and a bareboat charter with Oryx LNG No. 10 Shipping, a unit of MOL, on August 26.
Oriental Fleet has agreed to buy one vessel from MOL’s unit for 2,578.93 million yuan ($360.5 million), and immediately after the delivery, lease back the vessel to the latter at a total estimated charter hire worth approximately 3,182.47 million yuan ($445 million).
Additionally, the lease period is 240 months, or 20 years, from the delivery date of the vessel which is scheduled in or around July 2029, Cosco Shipping Development said.
At the expiry of the lease period, MOL’s unit shall be obliged to purchase the vessel from Oriental Fleet at $1, the company noted.
Cosco Shipping Development said that the 271,000-cbm LNG carrier will registered in the name of Oryx LNG and flagged in Liberia without providing further details regarding the vessel.
QC-Max LNG carriers
In December 2024, China’s Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation and MOL joined forces on six QC-Max LNG carriers as part of the massive QatarEnergy shipbuilding program.
China’s Hudong-Zhonghua will build these 271,000-cbm LNG carriers which will serve QatarEnergy under charter deals.
QatarEnergy signed in total deals with Hudong-Zhonghua and shipping firms for 24 giant LNG carriers.
The company signed a charter deal with compatriot shipping firm Nakilat for nine LNG carriers.
Moreover, affiliates of China Merchants Group, Shandong Marine Group, and China LNG Shipping, of which Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation holds 50 percent, will also operate nine of these vessels.
