LNG Carrier Named

The LNG carrier Arctic Princess was named in Nagasaki, Japan, today. The ceremony was sponsored by Mrs. Irene Rummelhoff of Statoil representing the charterer, Snøhvit Sellers. The Artic Princess is the first LNG carrier that will be employed for carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the world's northernmost LNG development - Snøhvit. The Arctic Princess will be delivered in January 2006 and will be chartered to the Snøhvit Sellers for a period of 20 years. The building contract for Arctic Princess was entered into with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) in Japan in December 2001 and the vessel will be delivered on schedule and at the agreed cost. A sister vessel, to be named Arctic Lady, will be delivered in April 2006 and will be employed by Total also for transportation of LNG from Snøhvit. Arctic Princess 288 meters long and has a fully-laden capacity of 147 000 cubic meters of LNG. The LNG is carried at a temperature of minus 163 degrees centigrade in four spherical tanks, each with a diameter of 42 meters. A full cargo load of LNG is sufficient to cover the yearly energy consumption of all households in a city with a population of 45 000 people. The vessel will fly NIS flag. The naming ceremony was attended by 65 guests including Irene Rummelhoff, Senior Vice President, Natural Gas, Statoil ASA. Åge B Grutle, the Norwegian Ambassador to Japan, Leif O. Høegh from Leif Höegh & Co, Geir Pettersen, Senior Vice President, E&P Norway, Statoil, Tokinao Hojo, Deputy Chairman, Mitsui OSK Lines, Kazunori Ohta, Executive Vice President and Representative Director, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Sveinung Støhle, CEO Höegh LNG.