Golar LNG and Stolt-Nielsen announce joint venture

Golar LNG has announced the formation of a 50/50 joint venture with Stolt-Nielsen Ltd to pursue opportunities in small scale LNG production and distribution. Stolt-Nielsen has also made a strategic investment in Golar through open market purchases, representing an ownership stake of approximately 2.3%.

The joint venture between Golar and Stolt-Nielsen will draw upon the logistics and small scale LNG assets controlled by Stolt-Nielsen and the ocean-based LNG midstream assets controlled by Golar to provide a fully integrated LNG logistics service to consumers of natural gas.    

Gary Smith, CEO of Golar Management, said: "As Golar continues to expand throughout the midstream LNG value chain we are excited to have a world class specialty shipping and terminal company like Stolt-Nielsen as a strategic investor and partner. Stolt-Nielsen's core strengths in logistics and distribution are an excellent fit with Golar's midscale LNG focus. We look forward to working with Stolt-Nielsen to continue to expand the reach of LNG to a wider array of smaller potential customers."

Niels G. Stolt-Nielsen, Chief Executive Officer of Stolt-Nielsen Ltd, added: "A key element of Stolt-Nielsen's long-term strategy is diversification that leverages our core skillsets, including shipping, storage and distribution. We targeted LNG as a growth market and entered into small scale LNG liquefaction and logistics services in 2014, through our joint venture Stolt LNGaz. With our investment in Golar LNG we aim to develop further opportunities in the LNG space, targeting onwards distribution to off-the-grid customers, supported by Golar's midstream ocean-based system. We are pleased to have the opportunity to participate with Golar in satisfying this unique and growing demand."

Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/small-scale-lng/11062015/golar-lng-and-stolt-nielsen-announce-joint-venture-928/