The credit facility consists of a USD 180 million term loan to finance the acquisition of TI Asia (2002) and TI Africa (2002) by joint venture companies owned equally by Euronav and OSG and USD 320 million term loan to finance the conversion of the ships into FSO (Floating Storage Offloading) service vessels, which are scheduled to deliver to Maersk Oil Qatar on the Al Shaheen field offshore Qatar and start operation respectively on July and September 2009.
The credit facilities have 8 year maturity as from the date of deliveries of each of the 2 vessels on site. Borrowings under this facility bear interest at a rate based on LIBOR plus an attractive margin.
Euronav and OSG’s success at securing this bank facility during such a difficult financial market emphasizes not only the strength of the project and the charterer but also the strong support these banks have placed in both Euronav and OSG and which both companies sincerely appreciate.