Novatek’s giant Yamal LNG project in the Russian Arctic has secured a 14.5-year credit line worth 750 million euros ($795.6 million) with the Intesa Sanpaolo bank.
The loan pays an annual interest rate of 6-month EURIBOR plus 2.5 percent, with insurance covered by the Italian export credit agency SACE and the French agency COFACE, Novatek said in a statement on Monday.
Earlier, as part of the project financing package, the $27 billion Yamal LNG project received financing from the National Welfare Fund of Russia, signed agreements on credit lines with Sberbank and Gazprombank, as well as with the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China.
“Signing of the agreements is an important step enabling us to reduce the average cost of external debt. We are glad that the international export credit agencies participated in the financing of this world class LNG project, demonstrating the global significance and world scale nature of Yamal LNG,” Evgeniy Kot , Director of Yamal LNG said in the statement.
Novatek’s CEO Leonid Mikhelson , during his meeting in November with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, confirmed that the LNG project is now fully financed.
He said that the project is on track to ship its first cargo of LNG by the end of next year with the Yamal LNG plant being around 85 percent complete.
Shareholders in the Yamal LNG project are Novatek, as the operator with a 50.1 percent stake, CNPC and Total with 20 percent stake each and China’s Silk Road Fund with a 9.9 percent stake.