StealthGas Inc. Announces Entry Into Agreements Totaling Approximately $204 Million to Acquire Four New Resale Handy Size LPG Carriers, One Second Hand Handy Size LPG Carrier and the Construction of Five New Handy Size LPG Carriers Tuesday March 4, 9:04 am ET StealthGas Inc. Also Announces the Delivery of Two New Previously Announced Product Carriers and the Deliveries of Previously Announced Sales of Two Handy Size LPG Carriers ATHENS, Greece, March 4, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- StealthGas Inc. (NasdaqGS:GASS - News) (the ``Company''), a ship owning company serving primarily the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sector of the international shipping industry, announced today that is has entered into agreements to acquire ten vessels described below for approximately $204 million in the aggregate. The Company has ordered five new Fully Pressurized (``F.P.'') Handy Size LPG Carriers from a shipyard in Japan, three of which are 5,000 cbm and two are 7,500 cbm. Delivery of the 5,000 cbm vessels is expected at the end of September and November 2010 and the end of March 2011, respectively. Delivery of the 7,500 cbm vessels is expected at the end of July and December 2011, respectively. The Company has also entered into agreements to acquire from an affiliate four new ``F.P'' Handy Size LPG Carriers, two 5,000 cbm vessels, the Gas Defiance and the Gas Shuriken, and two other 3,500 cbm vessels as yet unnamed, which are all currently under construction in Japan. The Gas Defiance is expected to be delivered to the Company by the end of July 2008 whereupon she will commence a one-year time charter to a major international gas trader. The Gas Shuriken is expected to be delivered at the end of October 2008 whereupon she will commence a two year time charter to the same charterer. The 3,500 cbm vessels are expected to be delivered at the end of April and June 2009, respectively. The Company has also entered into an agreement with an affiliate to acquire the Gas Natalie, a 3,213 cbm, 1997 Japanese-built, F.P. LPG Carrier to be delivered by the end of September 2008. The vessel is deployed on a bareboat charter to a major international LPG operator, which runs until September 2011. The charterer has an option in September 2009 and 2010 to cancel the existing charter upon the payment of a cancellation fee in the amount of $336,000 if exercised in 2009 or $180,000 if exercised in 2010. The aggregate charter rate for the Gas Defiance, the Gas Shuriken and the Gas Natalie is $667,500 per calendar month. The Company also announced that it has completed the previously announced purchases of two new resale 47,000 deadweight M.R. type Product Carriers. The Navig8 Fidelity was delivered to the Company on January 9, 2008 and the Navig8 Faith was delivered to the Company on February 27, 2008. Both vessels, as previously announced, are employed on seven-year bareboat charters. The Company also announced that it has completed two of the three previously announced agreed upon sales of Handy Size LPG carriers. The Gas Oracle was delivered to her new owners on January 28, 2008, the Gas Nemesis was delivered to her new owners on January 29, 2008 and the Gas Renovatio is expected to be delivered to her new owners on or around March 10, 2008. Commenting on the acquisitions CEO Harry Vafias said ``As I discussed recently on our earnings call we have since the summer of 2007 found it increasingly difficult to acquire second-hand Handy Size LPG vessels, our core sector, at attractive prices as due to the improved market conditions existing owners are reluctant to sell ships, or they are asking uneconomic prices for vessels in our opinion. Therefore to continue increasing our presence in the Handy Size LPG carrier sector we have for the first time since we went public in October 2005 taken the decision to order five modern state of the art fully pressurized vessels from a shipyard in Japan with deliveries scheduled during the latter part of 2010 and during 2011. The construction will be undertaken by a very well established yard specializing in high quality LPG carriers and we feel that this new initiative by the Company further demonstrates the continued establishment and presence of STEALTHGAS INC in its main market sector. Also as detailed above, to continue our growth over the short term we have entered into agreements to acquire from an affiliate four new Handy Size LPG vessels two 5,000 CBM Fully Pressurized vessels the Gas Defiance and the Gas Shuriken to be delivered by the end of July and October 2008, respectively, both of which we have already secured period employment upon. Plus two further 3,500 CBM F.P. ships, as yet unnamed, that will be delivered to us in the first half of 2009. Similarly, the Gas Natalie, a second hand vessel that was acquired by an affiliate, will be acquired in September 2008. Upon her delivery to us she will continue a three-year bareboat charter until September 2011. With these acquisitions, in addition to the Gas Premiership that is being delivered to us this month, we will, as a minimum, increase the Company's LPG fleet on a net basis to 39 ships by the end of 2008. Additionally, we now have two new Product Carriers delivered to us that are deployed on long-term bareboat charters. We believe these acquisitions of more modern and efficient tonnage is the beginning of the second phase of expansion for STEALTHGAS INC, following the very rapid initial phase that ran from the IPO in October 2005 until the end of 2007. All of the vessels to be delivered in 2008 have employment fixed upon them from the day they are delivered to us so they will further contribute to the company's growth in profitability during 2008 and beyond, while at the same time enhancing our secure and transparent earnings profile. The ordering of brand new state of the art new tonnage at the upper end of our size sector to be delivered at a time when there is both negative worldwide fleet growth in our core sector, and when more LPG is expected to be produced worldwide, thus increasing the demand for shipment of the product, should in our view prove to be a sound and accretive strategic step in the development of our Company.`` StealthGas Inc. Press Release