Russia's biggest shipping company Sovcomflot has raised a US$400 million loan to build two tankers to ship liquefied natural gas
(LNG) from the BP-led Tangguh project in Indonesia, the company said late on Tuesday.The loan, organised by Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
SMBC, DnB NOR and ANZ Investment Bank, will be used to fund construction of two 145,700 cubic metres tankers to ship LNG to Asia and the United States.
Under the deal, the carriers, committed for long term time-charter for 16 and 20 years, will be built by South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine
Engineering Co. by 2008, when Tangguh is due to come on stream.
Tangguh, located in Papua at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago,
is one of the world's largest LNG projects. It is due to produce 7.6 million tonnes of LNG a year."Russian shipowner's participation in the transportation of LNG from
Indonesia was a result of winning an international tender announced by the project operator in 2005," Sovcomflot said on its Web site.
Sovcomflot's partners in the deal are Japanese Nippon Yusen KK and Indonesian PT Samudera Shipping Services.
State-owned Sovcomflot is Russia's top energy shipping company. Its operates a fleet of 41 tankers with a total deadweight capacity of 4.1 million tonnes,
including four LNG tankers with a deadweight of around 145,000 cubic metres each. "Taking part in the Tangguh Project is in line with Sovcomflot's strategy
aimed .... at fulfilling promising but complicated logistical tasks, including seaborne transportation of LNG," it said.
