Endesa signs term charter for Flex LNG tanker

Spanish utility Endesa has signed a one-year charter agreement for Norway-based shipowner Flex LNG's 174,000m³ Flex Ranger, starting from June next year.

The charter will start after the vessel's current one-year charter with Italy's Enel expires, Endesa said. The firm has the option of extending the charter by a year when it ends in June 2021.

The Flex Ranger will be the third carrier Endesa has chartered for loadings from Cheniere's 10mn t/yr Corpus Christi facility in Texas, from which the firm has 20-year deals for a combined 2.25mn t/yr of offtake.

Enel has also been using the vessel to load from Corpus Christi, for which the firm has a 2.25mn t/yr supply contract.

Flex LNG is willing to fix all five of its ordered LNG carriers than are expected to be delivered next year under long-term charters, the firm said last month. The new vessels will bring the firm's LNG fleet up to 13, a number it considers too high to keep on the spot charter market.

By Eleanor Holbrook