China Eximbank provides a $297.82 million AUD export credit loan for the Gorgon LNG Transport Project

Project narrative

On July 15, 2011, financial close was reached on the financing of the $511.96 million AUD ($545.60 million USD) Gorgon LNG Transport Project. As part of the financing, the Export-Import Bank of China provided an $297.82 million AUD ($317.39 million USD) export credit facility (loan) to Aries LNG Shipping Limited and Capricorn LNG Shipping Limited — two Hong Kong-registered special purpose vehicles (SPVs) that are jointly owned by Japan's Mitsui O.S.K Lines, Ltd. (MOL) (70% equity stake) and East China LNG Shipping Investment Co. Ltd. or North China LNG Shipping Investment Co. Ltd, subsidiaries of China's China Shipping Development Company Limited (30% equity stake) — for the project. This loan carried a maturity period of 15 years and a final maturity date of July 15, 2026. In addition to the China Eximbank debt, the $511.96 million AUD financing included a 15-year $111.71 million AUD ($119.05 million USD) term loan provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) ($27.93 million USD; $29.77 million USD) and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (BTMU) ($83.78 million AUD; $89.28 million USD) and $102.43 million AUD ($109.16 million USD) in equity provided by MOL ($71.70 million AUD; $76.41 million USD) and China Shipping Development Company ($30.73 million AUD; $32.75 million USD). The Gorgon LNG Transport Project consisted of the financing, construction, and operation of two 172,000 cubic meters membrane-type liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker ships to meet the transport demands of Mobil Australia Resources Company Pty Ltd. under its LNG sale-and-purchase agreement with PetroChina. The two vessels were scheduled to be delivered in 2015, and upon delivery, would operate under 20-year term Time Charter Agreements. Hudong–Zhonghua Shipbuilding was the shipbuilder of the LNG vessels, which would go on to service the Gorgon Gas Project. The $37 billion USD Gorgon Gas Project, the largest single resource project in Australia's history, is based off the northwestern coast of the State of Western Australia. It included the construction of a 15 million ton per annum LNG plant on Barrow Island, from which a LNG pipeline would transport the gas to the mainland for domestic customers and LNG tankers would transport the gas to international customers.