Golar LNG Limited is a midstream LNG company engaged primarily in the transportation,
regasification, liquefaction and trading of LNG. We are engaged in the acquisition,
ownership, operation and chartering of LNG carriers and FSRUs through our subsidiaries
and affiliates and the development of LNG projects.
We were incorporated as an exempted company under the Bermuda Companies Act
of 1981 in the Islands of Bermuda on May 10, 2001 and maintain our principal
executive headquarters at 2nd Floor, S.E. Pearman Building, 9 Par-la-Ville Road,
Hamilton HM 11, Bermuda. Our telephone number at that address is 1 (441) 295-4705.
Our principal administrative offices are located at One America Square, 17 Crosswall,
London, United Kingdom and our telephone number at that address is +0 44 207
063 7900.
Our business was originally founded in 1946 as Gotaas-Larsen Shipping Corporation,
or Gotaas-Larsen. Gotaas-Larsen entered the LNG shipping business in 1970 and
in 1997 was acquired by Osprey Maritime Limited, or Osprey, then a Singapore
listed publicly traded company. In May 2001, World Shipholding Ltd., or World
Shipholding, a company indirectly controlled by trusts established by John Fredriksen
for the benefit of his immediate family, acquired Osprey, which was subsequently
delisted from the Singapore Stock Exchange. On May 21, 2001, we acquired the
LNG shipping interests of Osprey and we listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in
July 2001 and traded under the symbol "GOL." We subsequently delisted
from the Oslo Stock Exchange on August 30, 2012. We have been listed on Nasdaq
since December 2002 and trade under the symbol "GLNG."
Our strategy to become a LNG floating solution provider began in 2002 when we
undertook a study to consider the conversion of an existing LNG carrier into
a FSRU and continued in 2004 with a similar study for the conversion of a LNG
carrier into a floating power generation plant, or FPGP. In December 2005, Keppel
of Singapore signed a contract with us for the first ever conversion of an existing
LNG carrier into a FSRU, with the Golar Spirit and the Golar Winter, being our
first firm FSRU charters in April 2007.
Together with our affiliate, Golar Partners, we are a leading independent owner
and operator of LNG carriers and FSRUs. Collectively, our fleet is comprised
of nineteen LNG carriers and six FSRUs. As of April 24, 2015, we have one remaining
newbuilding commitment for the construction of an FSRU, with a scheduled delivery
at the end of 2015, and agreements for the conversion of two LNG carriers, the
Hilli and Gimi, to FLNGVs, with estimated deliveries by 2017 through to early
2018. Our vessels provide and have provided LNG shipping, storage and regasification
services to leading players in the LNG industry including BG Group, ENI, Petrobras,
Dubai Supply Authority, Pertamina and many others. Our business is focused on
providing highly reliable, safe and cost efficient LNG shipping and FSRU operations.
We are seeking to further develop our business in other midstream areas of the
LNG supply chain with particular emphasis on innovative floating liquefaction
solutions.
We intend to leverage on our relationships with existing customers and continue
to develop relationships with other industry players. Our goal is to earn higher
margins through maintaining strong service-based relationships combined with
flexible and innovative LNG shipping and FSRU solutions. We believe our customers
place their confidence in our shipping, storage and regasification services
based on the reliable and safe way we conduct our LNG carrier and FSRU operations.
In line with our ambition to become an integrated LNG midstream asset provider,
we are looking to invest in small scale LNG projects and have completed a FEED
study for the conversion of three of our oldest carriers into small to mid-scale
floating liquefaction units. The FEED study supported our view that conversion
of an old LNG carrier into a FLNGV is viable and cost effective. In relation
to this, we have entered into definitive contracts with Singapore’s Keppel
for the conversion of the LNG carriers the Hilli and the Gimi to FLNGVs, which
became effective in July and December 2014, respectively. These developments
are complementary to our existing core business, namely shipping and provision
of FSRUs, and so we remain firmly committed to growing our fleet by way of our
newbuild assets referred to above.
As well as growing our core business and pursuing new opportunities along our
value chain, we also offer commercial and technical management services for
Golar Partners’ fleet. As of April 24, 2015, Golar Partners’ fleet
included six FSRUs and four LNG carriers (which are included within the combined
fleet of twenty-five described vessels above). Pursuant to a Golar Partners’
partnership agreement, it reimburses us for all of the operating costs in connection
with the management of their fleet. In addition, we also receive a management
fee equal to 5% of our costs and expenses incurred in connection with the provision
of these services. These management fees were eliminated until December 13,
2012 when Golar Partners was deconsolidated.
We intend to maintain our relationship with Golar Partners and pursue mutually
beneficial opportunities that we believe will include the sale of assets to
Golar Partners to provide support for our LNG projects as well as to further
our growth.
Our primary business objective is to grow our business and to provide significant
returns to our shareholders. Golar’s strategic intent is to become a fully
integrated LNG mid-stream services provider covering floating LNG liquefaction
(GoFLNG), LNG shipping and floating LNG regasification. We aim to meet this
objective by executing the following strategies:
Capitalize on Golars established reputation: We are an experienced and professional
provider of LNG mid-stream services that places value on operating to the highest
industry standards of safety, reliability and environmental performance. We
believe our strong technical capability and extensive commercial experience
enables us to obtain attractive new business opportunities not readily available
to other industry participants.
Operation of a high quality and modern LNG Carrier fleet: We currently own and
operate a fleet of high quality LNG Carriers with an average age of 2.6 years.
Our ten recently delivered vessels all utilize state of the art technology and
are configured to be very attractive to the chartering community with high performance
specifications.
Maintain our leadership position in the provision of FSRUs: We currently enjoy
an industry leadership position in the development, delivery and operation of
FSRUs based on an unblemished record of successful project delivery and highly
reliable vessel operation. We will continue to work with our customers to identify
and deliver new and profitable FSRU projects.
Utilize our industry expertise to develop new FLNG opportunities: Our GoFLNG
investment proposition is built around a sound technical and commercial offering,
derived from structurally lower unit capital costs, shorter lead times and lower
project execution risk profiles. GoFLNG allows smaller resource holders, developers
and customers to enter the LNG business and occupy a legitimate space alongside
the largest resource holders, major oil companies and world-scale LNG buyers.
For the established LNG industry participants, the prospect of GoFLNG’s
lower unit costs and risks provide an important and compelling alternative to
the traditional giant land based projects especially in the current energy price
environment, which we believe may well accelerate the pace of change.
Leverage on our affiliation with Golar Partners: We believe our affiliation
with Golar Partners positions us to pursue a broader array of opportunities.
This is demonstrated by:
Pursuit of strategic and mutually beneficial opportunities with Golar Partners
to date and since Golar Partners IPO in April 2011, we have successfully sold
six vessels in exchange for cash of approximately $1.9 billion which in part
enables us to finance our newbuilding program as well as pursue other growth
opportunities.
Increased dividend income from our investment - Since Golar Partners IPO,
the quarterly dividend distributions of Golar Partners have increased from $0.385
pro-rated per unit to $0.5625 per unit for the quarter ended December 31, 2014.
This represents a 46% increase since the IPO. Golar Partners long-term charters,
provide stable cash flows which allows Golar Partners to meet its quarterly
distributions obligations to its unit holders, including us. As of April 24,
2015, we have a 30% interest (including our 2% general partner interest) in
Golar Partners and hold 100% of Golar Partners IDRs.
4.53%