Bank of China contributes $65 million USD to $800 million USD syndicated loan for the Turritella Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Construction Project

Project narrative

On December 11, 2015 financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 12 lenders — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into an $800 million USD commercial term loan with SBM Turritella, LLC — a joint venture and special purpose vehicle (JV/SPV) owned and operated by SBM Offshore N.V. (55%), Mitsubishi Corporation (30%), and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (15%) — for the Turritella Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Construction Project. The facility carried a 10 year maturity period and a variable interest rate. BOC contributed $65 million USD to the facility. The following lenders also contributed the following amounts: BNP Paribas S.A. ($40 million USD), Crédit Agricole Group ($90 million USD), Development Bank of Japan ($90 million USD), ING Group N.V. ($90 million USD), KfW Ipex-Bank Gmbh ($40 million USD), Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation ($65 million USD), Mizuho Bank ($90 million USD), MUFG Bank, Ltd. ($90 million USD), Royal Bank of Scotland ($35 million USD), Société Générale S.A. (SocGen) ($40 million USD), and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Group (SMBC Group) ($65 million USD). The proceeds of the loan would be used by the borrower to finance a portion of (approximately 63%) of the construction and delivery costs of the FPSO Turritella. The Turritella is a Generation 2 model and weighs seven thousand tons. It has a maximum capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day and 15 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/d) of gas treatment and export. The vessel can store 80,000 barrels of oil in its Suezmax hull. SBM Offshore announced that Turritella achieved its first oil on September 9, 2016. The FPSO Turritella was built to produced oil from Shell's Stones field, located approximately 200 miles (320 km) off the shore of Louisiana, in the Walker Ridge region of the Gulf of Mexico, positioned in about 9,500 feet (2,896 m) of water. At the time of its unveiling, it was the deepest-water setting of any floating production facility. FPSO Turritella had a 10-year hell-or-high-water bareboat contract with Shell Offshore. Initially, the joint venture was to own and operate the vessel for 10 years, and had extension options of up to 20 years for Shell Offshore Inc. However, on January 16, 2018, Shell Offshore officially acquired the vessel for $1 billion USD.