Two shipowners are being named as having fixed long-term period deals with Japanese trader JERA, which has snapped up an optional period with a third owner.
Brokers said Mitsui OSK Lines is believed to have fixed one of its newbuildings to JERA for up to 15 years.
Initially, an existing vessel was linked to the business but the charter is now thought to involve a new vessel.
Separately brokers also said Celsius Shipping appears to have struck a similar deal with JERA.
This charter is believed to relate to one of Celsius’ on-order vessels at Samsung Heavy Industries.
Charter details on the long-term fixtures are unclear but brokers suggested rates in the $80,000 per day range may have been agreed.
In another move, JERA is understood to have picked up a one-year extension with Flex LNG on an existing LNG carrier.
TradeWinds reported in May that Flex had chartered out its 173,400-cbm LNG carrier Flex Constellation (built 2019) on a 10-month time charter with a one-year extension period to JERA Global Markets, a separate arm of the trader.
JERA, Japan’s largest power generator, came out in the market mid-year inviting offers from owners for several vessels to take on period hire of up to 15 years.
Brokers are pegging rates for three-year deals on modern LNG carrier tonnage as currently in the mid-$70,000 to mid-$80,000 per day range but have highlighted that these the rumoured new hires are for substantially longer periods.
On Friday, Reuters reported that Japan is considering boosting its purchases of LNG for emergency needs to at least 12 cargoes a year from three now to guard against unexpected supply shocks.
From December 2023, Jera bought one LNG cargo for each of the winter months, or a total of three for the year, to add to a Strategic Buffer LNG (SBL) run by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
For this winter METI energy resources development division director Yuya Hasegawa said the purchases would continue again, but from the mid to late 2020s Japan will try to buy one cargo per month throughout the year with JERA handling these for the SBL reserve.
Reuters said Japanese power utilities have been lobbying for a larger SBL, designed for JERA to provide cargo to a utility in urgent need, hedging against unexpected supply crunches triggered by military conflicts or nuclear reactor halts, among other issues.
Japan is currently the world’s second-largest LNG buyer, behind China. The nation buys most of its LNG from Australia, with Qatar, Oman and Russia among other key suppliers.
