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SCF received two LNG carriers in 2014

LNG Industry,


Russia’s Sovcomflot Group (SCF) has reported strong results for 2014, on the back of consistent strategy execution and the recovery of the conventional tanker market.

Financial highlights

  • Gross revenue increases 9.9% to US$1387.4 million.
  • Time charter equivalent increases 19.6% to US$1044.0 million.
  • EBITDA: increased 40.9% to US$538.2 million.
  • Net profit of US$83.9 million compared with a loss of US$39.2 million in 2013.

Newbuildings

Three newbuildings were delivered in 2014: two tri-fuelled Atlanticmax ice class Ice2 LNG carriers (Velikiy Novgorod and Pskov, each 170 200 m3 capacity) for long-term charter to Gazprom; and a second VLCC, SCF Shanghai, for long-term charter to PetroChina.

Contracts/charters

The company signed 20-year contracts with Sakhalin Energy for the construction and operation of four multi-functional icebreaking offshore support vessels for the Sakhalin-2 Project.

Long-term time charters were also agreed with Gazprom for three ice-class Arc-7 shuttle tankers for Novy Port project, Russia.

Arctic developments

SCF Group made nine transit voyages across the Northern Sea Route in the 2014 Arctic navigation season as part of systematic work on development of shipping in the Arctic basin, in cooperation with the Russian Transport Ministry, state agencies and oil and gas majors.

Improved market conditions

Commenting on the strong results, Sergey Frank, President and CEO, said: “Sovcomflot’s strong 2014 performance resulted from two major factors. First, we consistently continued to execute our growth strategy in business areas yielding attractive rates of return. Second, our conventional tanker fleet was able to reap benefits resulting from improved market conditions, where we believe there is still some potential for the rates to firm up. These improvements to the top line coupled with enhanced organisational efficiencies being made and lower bunker costs stimulated our earnings growth and our bottom line results for 2014.

“Looking ahead, Sovcomflot Group is well positioned to benefit from the continued positive momentum of the tanker market upswing. The first quarter of 2015 is looking quite promising. Being based on fundamentals we are pretty optimistic that earnings performance in 2015 will exceed that of the previous year”.

Strong performance

Evgeniy Ambrosov, Senior Executive VP, added: “Sovcomflot performed well in 2014, with a number of newbuilds received during the year. We took delivery of Velikiy Novgorod and Pskov, two advanced design LNG carriers and our second VLCC. The LNG carriers operate under long-term charter agreements with PAO Gazprom and the VLCC is on long-term time charter to PetroChina International.

“Commercial highlights for 2014 included the finalisation of significant new long-term agreements: contract with Sakhalin Energy for the construction and long-term charter of four IBSV’s, the agreement with Gazprom for the construction and long-term charter of three Arc-7 ice breaking shuttle tankers and the agreement with Yamal LNG for the construction and long-term charter of the first ice-breaking Arc-7 LNG carrier to serve the Yamal LNG Project. The deliveries of these vessels are scheduled for 2016 and 2017 providing prompt additions to the Group’s fixed income industrial fleet.

“With each new project we are reviewing and implementing the latest technology, ensuring the application of environmental protection programmes, providing our crews with the latest knowledge base of navigational, safety and environmental information.”


Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/lng-shipping/26032015/scf-group-2014-results-491/

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