MOL and Inpex announced the long-term charter agreement in separate statements on Friday.
The two firms signed the deal via their units Inpex Shipping and MOL Encean.
However, the firms did not provide further details regarding the charter.
This is the first LNG carrier to sail under a long-term charter contract with Inpex, MOL said.
The LNG carrier is currently under construction at South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje yard, and is scheduled for completion this month.
A naming ceremony for the ME-GA LNG carrier Harmonic Breeze took place at the yard, attended by officials from MOL and Inpex.
According to VesselValu data, MOL ordered this LNG carrier and another vessel from Hanwha Ocean (formerly DSME) in 2022 for $214.3 million per vessel.
The data suggests that the Harmonic Breeze charter is for 10 years.
The vessel is 294.9 meters long and 46.4 meters wide.
In addition, the vessel is equipped with an air lubrication system and a shaft generator as environmental impact reduction systems.
Inpex said the addition of the carrier to its fleet will further strengthen the reliability of the company’s LNG transportation system serving its LNG portfolio.
This, in turn, will support the expansion of Inpex’s LNG business—one of the three growth pillars identified in its vision 2035 announced in February 2025—by enhancing LNG trading capabilities and enabling more flexible LNG supply, the company said.
Inpex operates the Ichthys LNG plant in Australia and is working on the Abadi LNG project in Indonesia.
The company also operates the Naoetsu LNG import terminal in Niigata, Japan, and has stakes in other LNG export projects.
