Sovcomflot Inks USD 180 Mn Credit for Shuttle Tanker Duo
Image Courtesy: SovcomflotRussian shipping company Sovcomflot and the country’s bank Sberbank signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) paving the way for a new USD 180 million long-term credit agreement to finance two Panamax Arctic shuttle tankers.
With a term of up to 15 years, the credit facility agreement will finance Sovcomflot’s 2010-built tankers Mikhail Ulyanov and Kirill Lavrov, constructed at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg and operated under the Prirazlomnoye project.
“The memorandum signed by Sovcomflot and Sberbank is a logical continuation of the successful cooperation between us, both companies being leaders in their respective fields. In 2015, Sberbank became the first Russian bank to provide shipping finance for Sovcomflot’s tankers. Today, Sovcomflot and Sberbank are taking another step forward and declaring their readiness to implement new large-scale projects with high added value,” Sergey Frank, Chairman and CEO of Sovcomflot, said.
Shuttle tankers Kirill Lavrov and Mikhail Ulyanov are used for transportation of all the oil produced at the offshore ice-resistant stationary platform (OIRSP) Prirazlomnaya in the Prirazlomnoye oilfield, located 32 nautical miles offshore in the Pechora Sea.
The vessels, specifically designed for year-round navigation at low temperatures and in the difficult ice conditions of the Arctic sea basin, each have Arc6 ice class and a deadweight of 70,000 tonnes.
Since April 2014, they have made 43 voyages from Prirazlomnaya, transporting some 2.7 million tonnes of crude oil.
