| July 27, 2005 |
| |
| "K"LINE Inks Time Charter Agreement with |
| Tangguh Production Sharing Contractors |
| for three new 153,200m3 LNG Carriers |
| |
| |
| On July 27, a group company of Kawasaki Kisen
Kaisha, Ltd. ("K"Line), together with its Indonesian consortium partner, PT. Pelayaran
Nusantara Meratus(**), executed three 20-year long-term charter agreements(*) for three
new LNG carriers(***) for Tangguh LNG Project with the Tangguh Production Sharing
Contractors (****) operated by BP Indonesia. |
| |
| The Tangguh LNG project has purchase and sales
agreements to four customers: about 3.7 million tons to Sempra’s terminal near Ensenada
in Baja California, Mexico, 2.6 million tons to the Fujian LNG terminal in China,; about
0.8 million tons to K Power of Korea, and 0.55 million tons to POSCO in Korea. |
| The Project had been in a bidding process to
procure seven LNG carriers for Ex-ship agreements, one to Korea and six to Mexico, out of
which "K"Line consortium has successfully been awarded three vessels. |
| In addition to the already executed ship
building contracts for two vessels with Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.,
"K"Line had executed an additional shipbuilding contract with the same shipyard
for the third vessel with identical specifications to the two already ordered. These newly
built vessels adopted the most modern Dual Fuel Diesel Electric (DFDE) Engines instead of
traditional steam turbine engines achieving better fuel efficiency and more environmental
benefit, while increased cargo tank capacity of 153,200m3 leads
to more economical efficiency as well. |
| |
| "K"Line’s LNG current fleet of 36
vessels in total, including 9 on order, will be increased to 39 with these new three
vessels. The number of its ship management will increase as well, from 9 (including 5 on
order) to 12. |
| |
| "K"Line, keeping its first priority
to safety in its services, will keep committing itself to contributing to the expansion of
LNG business by participating aggressively in LNG projects in and out of the country. |
| |
| (*) Main Terms of the time charter agreement |
| Owner |
: |
"K" Line LNG Shipping (UK) Limited |
| Charterer |
: |
The Tangguh Production Sharing Contractors |
| Term |
: |
20 years |
| Sailing Route |
: |
Pacific Basin |
|
| |
(**) Company profile of PT. Meratus (as
of 31st December, 2004) |
| Head office |
: |
Surabaya |
| Number of Fleet |
: |
35 (a major shipping company in Indonesia providing
inter-island services) |
|
| |
| (***) Ship Particulars |
| Builder |
: |
Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. |
| Delivery |
: |
August 2008-April 2009 |
| Cargo Tank Capacity |
: |
Approx 153,200m3 |
| Cargo Tank Type |
: |
GTT MARK |
| LOA/Breadth |
: |
Approx 285.0 m / 43.4 m |
| Full Draft |
: |
11.5m |
| Gross Tonnage |
: |
98,000 tons |
| Speed |
: |
19.5 knot |
|
| |
| (****) Tangguh Production Sharing Contractors |
| BP Berau Ltd. |
: |
37.16% |
| CNOOC |
: |
16.96% |
| MI Berau B.V. |
: |
16.30% |
| Nippon Oil Exploration (Berau), Ltd. |
: |
12.23% |
| KG Berau Petroleum Ltd. |
: |
10.00% |
| LNG Japan |
: |
7.35% |
|
| |
| |
For further information, please contact: |
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd., Tokyo |
| Hiromichi Aoki, General Manager, LNG Group |
TEL: +81-3-3595-5478 |
| Tomoyuki Okawa, Deputy General Manager, LNG Group |
TEL: +81-3-3595-5500 |
|