Teekay, Merrill to Develop Floating Nat Gas Plant

Oil Tanker company Teekay(TK Quote) announced Friday that it would team up with Merrill Lynch to convert the S/S Arctic Spirit into a floating natural gas plant.

The converted vessel, would be moored near Kitimat, British Columbia, and would be able to liquefy up to 75-100 million standard cubic feet daily of pipeline-quality gas, Teekay said in a press release.

"The potential to produce the world's first floating LNG unit in British Columbia, where our operations are headquartered, is an exciting prospect," said Mark J. Kremin, vice president for gas services at Teekay.

Teekay shares recently were down 1.9% to $13.76. The company, which competes with the likes of Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG Quote) and MISC Berhad in a shipping space that includes such names as Tidewater(TDW Quote), Frontline(FRO Quote), Kirby(KEX Quote), Seacor(CKH Quote) and Diana Shipping(DSK Quote), in February reported third-quarter net income of $103.1 million, or $1.41 per share, beating Wall Street estimates.