Nakilat seeks $1bn for tankers, raises $1.5bn

Qatar Gas Transportation Company (Nakilat) plans to borrow $1bn (Dh3.67bn) in the next 18 months to pay for tankers after raising an initial $1.5 billion in bank loans, the firm said yesterday.

The world's largest shipper of liquefied natural gas has ordered 54 tankers to cope with growing global demand for its gas. LNG is gas chilled to its liquid state for easier shipping.

In a regulatory filing, Nakilat said it had raised $1.5 billion from 12 banks to fund the construction of 25 LNG vessels it will wholly own.

The debt includes a $925m senior bank facility with a 17-year tenor, $125m subordinated bank loan, also with a 17-year tenor, and a 12-year $450m senior bank facility insured by the Korea Export Insurance Corporation .

"The $1.5bn debt financing completed today is part of the approximately $2.5bn additional debt that Nakilat intends to raise over the coming 18 months," it said.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp was the financial adviser on the transaction.

Qatar, holder of the world's third largest natural gas reserves, plans to more than double its LNG capacity to 77m tonnes in 2010 from around 30m tonnes last year.

Nakilat raised $4.3bn in December last year through a mix of conventional bonds, loans and export credits.

Nakilat is borrowing 90 per cent of the cost of the 25 tankers it will wholly own.

The remaining 29 ships, ranging in capacity from 145,000 cubic metres to 216,000 cubic metres, will be owned with partners. All the ships will be delivered by February 2010.

Nakilat posted profit of riyal 50.9m ($13.98m in the second quarter, up 62.5 per cent from the year-earlier period. The company made profit of riyal 90.4m in the first half of the year, compared with riyal 54.3m a year earlier, it said in a statement on the Doha bourse website, without offering a breakdown of quarterly data.

The quarterly earnings were on par with the riyal 50.55 million profit forecast of Middle East Brokerage Company in a Reuters survey in June.

Reuters calculated the quarterly profit based on the company's previous financial statements.

Nakilat reported net profit attributable to shareholders of riyal 31.33m in the second quarter of 2007 and riyal 39.48m in the first quarter of this year.