Golar LNG Ltd (GLNG) Q2 2019 Earnings Call Transcript
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Golar LNG Ltd (NASDAQ: GLNG)
Q2 2019 Earnings Call
Aug 29, 2019, 10:00 a.m. ET

Contents:

  • Prepared Remarks

  • Questions and Answers

  • Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Iain Ross -- Chief Executive Officer, Golar Management Limited

Good morning. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining the call today. My name is Iain Ross, CEO of Golar LNG. And today I'm joined by Graham Robjohns, CFO; and Stuart Buchanan, Head of Investor Relations. As Graham is calling in from outside the office today, we also have Brian Tienzo on the call to discuss any of the financials in the event that Graham has problems with his phone line.

Okay. Turning to Slide 4 in the pack. We continue to act on shareholder feedback around the perceived complexity of the business, and we'll focus this discussion on the themes of simplicity, earnings stability, liquidity and near-term value. Today, we announced steps to improve simplicity of the business and provide near-term to shareholders through the use of dividend cash to buy back 3 million total return swap shares over a phased period. We have improved earnings stability in the carrier fleet by placing a number of our ships on either fixed or market like traits. We've improved liquidity and put in place access to an immediate $180 million in credit facilities. On the back of Hilli success, we continue to build out our FLNG pipeline, and as a result, have investment interests in our already contracted backlog from a number of infrastructure funds that see value in our FLNG contracts.

Operationally, on Slide 5, we remain on track to spin out our ships before the year-end, supported by the new fixtures I mentioned and subject to visible improvement in the market continuing. On FLNG, Hilli has produced 25 cargoes to-date. The Gimi conversion project is on track from both common schedule point of view. I'll give a little more detail on the FLNG pipeline later in the discussion, and we have made good progress on the downstream LNG distribution activities in Brazil, through our Golar Power business following on from the targeted year-end completion of the Sergipe gas project.

With these highlights, I'll hand over to Graham to take you through the numbers before having a closer look at the business sectors. Graham?

Graham Robjohns -- Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Golar Management Limited

Thank you, Iain and good day, everybody. I'd like to start on Slide 5, second quarter 2019 financial results. Total operating revenues were down this quarter $97 million from $140 million in last quarter, due to the seasonally weak Q2 shipping market, as well as the impact of dry docking at four of our ships. Lower LNG demand in Asia pushed US volumes into Europe and reduced ton miles, while, at the same time, softer gas prices and elevated vessel deliveries combined to ensure that demand for spot tonnage was matched by sufficient vessel availability throughout the quarter.