Teekay LNG Partners grows steadily, stills sees room for more LNG carriers

Voyage revenues rose from $399.2m in 2013 to $402.9m in 2014 as older conventional tankers were sold and newer LNG carriers were acquired over the course of the year. Net income also rose from $213.3m to $218.9m between 2013 and 2014.

In December, Teekay LNG exercised its last three options for 173,400 cu m gas carriers at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) for $630m. The MEGI ships, along with two others already being built at DMSE for Teekay, will service time charters with Shell for six to eight years plus options from their delivery dates in 2017 and 2018.

Since the three options were confirmed for the Shell charter, Teekay has been back to DSME to order a further 173,400 cu m LNG carrier, with options for four further ships, as it continues to seek long term charters for its expanding fleet.

"We believe the partnership's new five-vessel time-charter agreement secured with Shell in December 2014 validates our strategy of pre-ordering optimally sized MEGI LNG carriers to meet the anticipated fundamentals-driven demand for modern fuel-efficient vessels in the global LNG market," commented Peter Evensen, ceo of Teekay LNG, adding that the company expects forward revenues of around $11.3bn from its current portfolio.

"Despite the current volatility in the global energy markets, the fundamentals for LNG shipping remain strong with a current estimated requirement for over 110 standard size LNG carriers above the existing orderbook by 2020, " Evensen added.

Teekay LNG has a fleet of 55 owned vessels, with four chartered-in and 27 newbuildings on order.