Joseph Inokotong, Abuja
Russian shipping company Sovcomflot (SCF Group) has signed a new USD 297 million limited recourse credit facility to finance its two next-generation LNG carriers.
The financing deal, with a duration of up to ten years, was concluded with three international banks – ING Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, and Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank.
The World Maritime News informed that the funds will be used towards pre- and post-delivery financing of two new 174,000 cbm Atlanticmax LNG carriers, which will operate under long-term charters to Shell.
The first of these vessels is scheduled for delivery in H2 2020 and the second one in H1 2021.
The addition of these vessels, which feature a slow-speed dual-fuel X-DF diesel engine and gas boil-off partial liquefaction system, will increase the group’s LNG carrier fleet to sixteen vessels.
“SCF Group is pleased with this new LNG project financing with its long-standing financial partners…With the conclusion of this deal, the group has addressed in full its capital expenditure funding requirements for the next two years,” Nikolay Kolesnikov, Executive Vice-President & CFO of Sovcomflot, said.
This deal follows a similar USD 149 million credit facility signed between SCF Group and the three abovementioned banks in November 2018. With these funds, Sovcomflot is to finance the construction of an LNG carrier, which will operate on long-term charter to Total.
Sovcomflot currently has a fleet of 147 vessels with a total deadweight of over 12.8 million tons. Over 80 vessels have an ice class
