Nakilat Finalizes 4.3-Billion Funding Package for the Purchase of 16 Methane Tankers

摘要

Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) announced on 20 December that its wholly-owned subsidiary,Nakilat Inc.,had finalized an initial 4.3-billion tranche of credits.The funds will be used to finance the purchase of 16 methane tankers ordered from South Korean shipyards which are scheduled for delivery in 2008 and 2009.Long-term time charter contracts have already been concluded for these methane tankers with Qatargas II (QG-II) and QG-III.They will be operated by Shell International Trading and Shipping Company (Stasco),part of the Royal Dutch Shell group,under the terms of a 25-year contract,together with 11 others that have already been ordered,or are going to be.The latter will be chartered to RasGas-3 and QG-4.A second 3.3-billion tranche of credits is due to be raised to finance these ships.