Golar, Hoegh Give Stolt-Nielsen's LNG Venture Investment Boost

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LONDON, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipping and terminal operators Golar and Hoegh said on Monday they would invest about $50 million into an LNG company set up last year by fellow Nordic firm Stolt-Nielsen.

The investments aim to build Avenir LNG into an entity with small LNG vessels and terminals that are expected to be increasingly used in remote locations or to supply LNG as vehicle or ship fuel.

Small-scale LNG is a new frontier of the rapidly developing industry which has been dominated by ever larger and more complex multi-billion projects.

“Avenir LNG intends to utilize the best-in-class capabilities of its anchor investors to build a global presence as the leading provider of small-scale LNG,” Golar and Hoegh said in a statement.

“It will be among the first movers in this market with a fleet of small-scale LNG carriers and terminals,” they said.

The two companies will invest $24.75 million each to receive a 25 percent stake each in Avenir LNG.

They said the funds were part of a $182 million commitment with Stolt-Nielsen to opportunities in small-scale LNG “including the delivery of LNG to areas of stranded demand, the development of LNG bunkering services and supply to the transportation sector”.

Stolt-Nielsen will transfer all its LNG projects to Avenir LNG, the statement said, which includes four small-scale LNG carriers already on order as well as the development of an LNG terminal in Sardinia, Italy.

(Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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