Exmar Secures Funds for FLNG Unit

Belgian shipowner Exmar said June 28 it has fully secured $200mn of financing for its Caribbean FLNG vessel from Bank of China, Sinosure and a leading European financial institution, noting that the mini-liquefaction vessel is being completed by Chinese shipbuilder Wison Offshore and Marine and will be delivered "in the coming weeks."

“Proceeds from the financing will be used to pay the last instalment to the shipyard,” it added, noting that it looks forward to building on its new relationship with Bank of China and Sinosure (the latter also being known as China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation).

Antwerp-based Exmar in 2012 reached an agreement with Colombian gas producer Pacific Rubiales under which the Belgian shipowner had the 0.5mn mt/yr capacity liquefaction barge built in China.

Exmar however cancelled its contract in March 2016 with Pacific Rubiales after the latter’s financial restructuring; this March it said it had received a $9mn termination fee from Pacific Rubiales.

There was no indication in Exmar's June 28 statement that it has yet found a new charter client for the FLNG unit, but the market is fully aware of the ship’s availability. Wison completed trials of the vessel last September but retained it, pending the final payment from Exmar.

Caribbean FLNG was to have been sited nearshore northern Colombia and would have been the first floating liquefaction unit deployed in the world, a distinction that has since gone to Malaysian state Petronas’ PFLNG.

Exmar and Dutch oil and LNG terminals operator Vopak had been talking about a possible deal since December whereby the latter would buy Exmar's interests in floating LNG import terminals (FSRUs) – but negotiations were terminated two months ago.

Mark Smedley