Golar said in a statement on Thursday it has successfully priced $300 million in senior unsecured bonds in the Nordic bond market.
The bonds will mature in September 2029 and bear interest at 7.75 percent per annum.
Net proceeds from the bond issue will be applied towards capital expenditure, refinancing of debt, and general corporate purposes, the company said.
Also, an application will be made for the bonds to be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange, it said.
DNB Markets and Pareto Securities acted as global coordinators and joint bookrunners, and Clarksons Securities and Fearnley Securities as joint bookrunners in the bond issue.
Earlier this week, Golar said it has mandated the four firms to arrange a series of fixed income investor meetings starting on September 2.
Golar to more than double floating liquefaction capacity
Golar is looking to grow the company’s fleet with a target to more than double its operating FLNG capacity by 2030, CEO Karl Staubo said last month during Golar’s second-quarter earnings call.
The company currently operates the 2.4 mtpa Hili, which works offshore Cameroon, and the 2.7 mtpa Hilli, which will serve BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FLNG project offshore Mauritania and Senegal.
“We have laid out our growth ambition based on our existing asset base and secured yard slots. We have inbuilt cash generation growth from our existing assets through the startup of Gimi expected to commence commissioning within this quarter and full operations next year,” Staubo said during the call.
He said the company sees further earnings growth from increased capacity utilization on Hilli when redeploying from her existing charter which ends in July 2026 to the announced 20-year charter in Argentina with an estimated startup in Q1 2027.
Once on their 20-year charters, these two existing assets are estimated to generate an aggregate annual Ebitda of about $515 million before commodity exposure.
“On the back of our focused business model, strong balance sheet and demand for our FLNG services, we’re now looking to grow our fleet with a target to more than double our operating FLNG capacity by 2030 to just over 12 million tons per annum,” Staubo said.
New FLNG conversion order this quarter
Staubo said that Golar has secured a yard slot for a Mark II 3.5 mtpa conversion with delivery in 2027 and a further yard option for a second Mark II 3.5 mtpa FLNG with delivery within 2028.
Golar exercised its option last year to acquire 148,000-cbm Moss-type carrier, Fuji LNG, which it aims to convert to a floating LNG producer.
The company took delivery of Fuji LNG on March 4, 2024 and said that it will trade on a multi-month charter ahead of its expected transfer to the yard for FLNG conversion.
“We are targeting to order the first of these Mark II FLNGs within this quarter. Each Mark II FLNG has a capacity of 3.5 mtpa or about 180 TBtu per annum,” he said.
Assuming a tariff in line with the recently announced FLNG project in Argentina, a Mark II could generate an Ebidta of about $500 million before commodity exposure, Staubo said.
“Hence, based on our existing assets and the identified growth ambitions, Golar may be in a position to generate an annual Ebidta of around $1.5 billion once the expansion program has expanded from 2 to 4 units and the liquefaction capacity has increased from 5 to 12 mtpa. This is all expected to be fully operational within 2030,” he said.
