John Fredriksen-owned Flex LNG has stretched a deal for the first of its LNG carriers transferred to its in-house management team last year.
CEO Oystein Kalleklev told TradeWinds the charter for the 173,400-cbm Flex Enterprise (built 2018) has been extended by another year to the end of March 2021.
He could not comment on the charterer, but TradeWinds reported last March that the vessel had been fixed to energy major Chevron.
There are still extension options remaining under the contract for the M-type, electronically-controlled gas-injection (ME-GI) LNG carrier.
The charter rate is variable "as a function of the overall market conditions", the company said.
Satisfied customer
"Flex Enterprise was the first vessel we transferred ship management [of] to Flex LNG Fleet Management in November last year, so happy this is valued by the charterer, which is satisfied with the services," Kalleklev added.
The Flex move was the first time any of Fredriksen’s companies had set up its own in-house shipmanagement company.
In December, the Oslo-listed owner fixed one of its trading vessels for up to two years in a contract with Spanish utility Endesa.
The 174,000-cbm Flex Ranger (built 2018) will start a firm 12-month charter with Endesa in June 2020, after its contract expires with the utility's Italian parent Enel.
The direct continuation deal includes an option to extend the hire by an additional 12 months.
The month before, Flex announced that it had fixed one of its 173,400-cbm newbuildings, which is to be named Flex Artemis, to trader Gunvor for up to 10 years.
The ship is due to start the five firm years of the charter period on its delivery from shipyard DSME in August 2020.
At that point, Flex had taken delivery of six of its 13 LNG carriers.
