Evangelos Marinakis’ Capital Gas bumps up LNG fleet with fresh orders and secondhand buy

Evangelos Marinakis-controlled Capital Gas is growing its fleet to 18 LNG carriers after snapping up two newbuilding slots and a 21-year-old secondhand vessel worth a combined $535m in total.

Industry sources close to the company said Capital has secured two LNG carrier berths at Hyundai Heavy Industries in South Korea.

MISC floats 20-year-old steam turbine LNG carrier for sale

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The 174,000-cbm newbuildings, which are to be equipped with MEGA propulsion systems, are each priced around the $250m mark and are due for delivery in the third quarter of 2026.

The LNG berths at HHI are believed to be options held by Capital.

But with the handover dates for the nine Mozambique LNG slots at the yard pushed out into 2027 to 2028, it appears the yard has been able to release some of its 2026-delivery positions.

In addition to the newbuilding pair, Capital is said to be in the process of acquiring the former MISC-controlled, 137,489-cbm membrane-type LNG carrier Puteri Intan Satu (built 2002).

Brokers said the steam turbine LNG ship is being sold for around $30m but TradeWinds understands the price is closer to $35m.

The vessel was offered for sale in August and market talk has been circulating that demolition cash buyer GMS had acquired it.

But it appears that while GMS was involved in sourcing the vessel, Capital has emerged as its future owner.

The Puteri Intan Satu is currently out of class and the vessel will need to first pass its special survey and have a ballast water treatment system fitted before it is deployed for trading.

The MISC LNG carrier, which was contracted in 1999 at a price of $179m, is one of six sisterships built between 2002 and 2005.

Capital Gas snaps up its first secondhand LNG carrier as market hots up

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This looks set to be the second purchase of a secondhand LNG carrier by Capital.

In 2022, the company dived in to buy the 138,000-cbm steam turbine Trader (ex-British Trader, built 2002) for between $26m and $28m. The vessel was reported fixed out to PetroChina at a rate of about $160,000 per day.

Adding in its latest orders and incoming acquisition, Capital will have built up a fleet of eight on-the-water ships and 10 newbuildings due for delivery from 2023 to 2026.

Of the undelivered vessels, the company is now sitting on five open vessels. One of these, the 174,000-cbm Axios II, is scheduled for handover at the end of 2023 with the remaining four set to deliver in 2026.

TradeWinds reported earlier this month that Capital was in the process of fixing two of its 2024-delivering vessels, which are currently due to be named the Apostolos and Aktoras, to West African producer Nigeria LNG on 10-year bareboat deals.

The company has stacked up a diverse range of charterers for its vessels including BP, Cheniere Energy, Engie, QatarEnergy and Tokyo Gas.