Sonatrach exercises LNG option

A newly established joint venture among MOL, ITOCHU Corporation, Algerian state oil company Sonatrach and its wholly owned shipping company Hyproc Shipping Company has exercised its option to order a second LNG carrier from Universal Shipbuilding Corporation. Each of the partners holds a 25% share in the joint venture and the 75,500 cbm ship, slated for delivery in 2009, will sail under a long-term charter contract with Sonatrach.

In May 2004, the four partners carried out an international tender to select a shipyard and awarded a contract to the Japanese shipbuilder for one LNG carrier, with an option for a second. The ships are called “Medmax” carriers because they are the largest vessels that can serve ports in the Mediterranean. MOL and Hyproc will jointly operate the new ships.

ITOCHU and MOL established a similar joint venture with Sonatrach and Hyproc in 2002 to build a 145,000 cbm LNG carrier at Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation. That ship was delivered in October 2004 and is now operated by Hyproc and MOL under a long-term charter with Sonatrach. With the new order, the partnership will own and operate three LNG carriers.