Bergesen Makes Preliminary LNG Agreement
Bergesen has entered into a preliminary agreement with the Algerian oil company Sonatrach for employment of one LNG-carrier for minimum 20 years from delivery. Sonatrach has an option to extend the agreement by maximum five years. The vessel is the third vessel in a series of seven large LNG-carriers ordered by Bergesen at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd, Korea. The vessel shall be delivered in third quarter 2004. Sonatrach will participate with an ownership share of 50 percent in the vessel with effect from delivery from the yard, but the vessel will be 100 percent financed by Bergesen. Final agreement with Sonatrach is expected to be concluded in the near future.
New LNG Vessel to Serve Tractebel's Atlantic Basin Customers
Tractebel LNG North America LLC, operator of the United States' first LNG import terminal in Everett, Massachusetts, and Bergesen, based in Oslo, Norway, announced the launch of Berge Everett, a new 138,000 cubic meter liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier that will begin making deliveries for Tractebel under an exclusive, long-term charter. Tractebel LNG North America ("TLNGNA") will use the vessel to transport LNG primarily from Trinidad to the company's Everett LNG receiving terminal, to the EcoElectrica facility in Puerto Rico, and to other LNG facilities in the Atlantic Basin. Constructed at the Daewoo Shipbuilding Yard in South Korea, the Berge Everett is 100% owned by Bergesen.
