Bermuda has a new shipping company - Golar LNG Ltd. - which was set up by a Norwegian maritime and tanker company to become a holding company for its buildings and liquid natural gas operations.

The company was incorporated in Bermuda in May 2001 for the purpose of acquiring the Liquid Natural Gas shipping interests of Osprey Maritime Ltd. and Seatankers Management Co. Ltd.

These interests were acquired in late May 2001 and consist of two new buildings and six Liquid Natural Gas carriers, all of which are currently under long term charter contracts.

To finance the purchase of the Liquid Natural Gas operations, the Bermuda company raised $280 million through the private placement of 56 million shares at a price of $5 per share on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

Additionally, a subsidiary of the Bermuda company raised $325 million through a credit facility secured by the underlying vessels.

In early July 2001, the company delivered a prospectus relating to the introduction to listing of its shares on the Oslo Stock Exchange, and on July 12, 2001 the company's shares were listed for trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

On July 19, 2001, the company announced that it had entered into two contracts for Liquid Natural Gas new buildings for delivery in 2004.

When the contracts are completed, the company will have four new buildings on order and has options for new buildings for delivery in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The company yesterday posted its June 2001 results, which included a net income of $0.52 million for the month ended June 30, 2001 and earnings per share of $0.01.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the month were $6.32 million. This result is influenced by the loss of approximately $1.2 million in operating revenues due to the scheduled dry-docking of two vessels.

Net operating revenues were $8.23 million and were reduced by the scheduled dry-docking of two vessels, which resulted in a total of approximately 38 days off-hire.