OSLO, NORWAY: Avance Gas Holding, a Norwegian company that operates Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGCs), has agreed to sell one of its ships, Venus Glory, for $66 million to a National Oil Company.
The ship, built in 2008, was on a two-year charter with IOC until the end of 2023. The sale is expected to close in February or March 2024, subject to certain conditions. Avance Gas will record a book gain of about $27 million and a net cash proceed of about $40 million from the sale.
The sale of Venus Glory is part of Avance Gas’s fleet renewal program, which has seen the company sell five older ships and acquire four new dual fuel VLGCs in the last two years. The company has also ordered four dual fuel MGCs that can carry ammonia and LPG, to be delivered in 2025 and 2026.
Avance Gas expects to book profits of about $121 million from the sale of three more ships and the swap of a sale-and-leaseback financing for two new ships in the first and second quarter of 2024. The net cash proceeds from these transactions are expected to be about $225 million.
Avance Gas’s CEO, Øystein Kalleklev, said that the company is in a very good position to deliver strong returns and dividends to its shareholders, given the positive outlook for the VLGC freight market.