Shipper Golar LNG names new CEO amid push into power market

May 10 (Reuters) -- Golar LNG said Oscar Spieler would replace Gary Smith as CEO as the natural gas shipping company pushes deeper into the Brazilian power generation market in a bid to diversify operations amid weak freight rates.

Weak demand for LNG from key markets such as South Korea and Japan, coupled with growing supply of tankers, has hurt rates for transporting the fuel in the past couple of years.

Golar LNG said on Tuesday it was in talks with a private equity firm for investments in Golar Power, its unit that holds an interest in a 1.5 gigawatt power station in Sergipe, Brazil.

Golar LNG shares rose 2% to $17.55 in morning trading.

The news comes about two months after the company's joint venture with Brazilian company GenPower Participaçoes said it had reached a preliminary deal with ExxonMobil for LNG supply to the gas-to-power project in Sergipe.

Golar LNG said Spieler, who was its chief executive between July 2009 and June 2011, was responsible for its first floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

(Reporting by Amrutha Gayathri in Bengaluru; Editing by Kirti Pandey)

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