Full issue - Ministère de l'énergie et des mines

performances
PERFORMANCES
Sonatrach, financing of a 4 th
methane carrier
ING Bank retained
Energie & Mines
32
■ The carrier whose building
cost is estimated at
139 million dollars should
be received in June 2009.
Its construction will be
completed in 2007.
■ The building of this 4th
methane carrier, ordered
within the framework of a
joint venture, is entrusted
to the Japanese builder,
Universal Ship-Building
Corp.
■ 31.5 billion dollars – this
is the turnover made by
Sonatrach at the end of the
2004 financial year.
■ Its exports for the same
period reached 28.5 billion
dollars, 3 billion of which
were accounted on behalf
of the Group's partners.
PPNB Paribas, Calyon, Société
Générale (France), ING-Bank
(Netherlands), Fortis
(Belgium) and SMBC (Japan) are the
six banks which subscribed to the submitting
of bids by virtue of a transaction
to finance the building of a methane
carrier. The carrier, the fourth of its
type, whose building cost is estimated
at 139 million dollars – with the official
total amount of the transaction being
evaluated at 152 million dollars – will
be ordered within the framework of a
joint venture in equal shares, i.e. 25%
per shareholder, concluded between
the Sonatrach Group, the SNTM-
Hyproc, Itochu Corporation and
Mitsui Osk-Lines. According to the
financing options given, the shareholders
will pay a contribution of 25%.
The remainder of the amount will be
november 2005
acquired in the form of debts. The relative
late opening up of the tenders,
supervised at the El Aurassi hotel, led
to it being awarded to ING-Bank of the
Netherlands, on the basis of the least
expensive quarterly depreciation criterion
of the debt. However, the deadline
for validating the tender is fixed for 31
July 2005. Furthermore, the representative
of Société Générale (France) will
be notified of the inadmissibility of this
bank’s tender, as it did not submit its
tender within the regulatory timeframes.
Entrusted to the Japanese company
Universal Ship-building Corp, at the
end of the first tender dated 29 May
2004, the building of the methane carrier
will be started in 2007 in the Kobe
shipyard. The vessel, which must be
delivered in 2009, will become the property
of the subsidiary Algerian Nippon
Gas Transport Corporation.
This transaction which should enable
the fleet of the national maritime
hydrocarbons’ and chemical products’
transportation company (SNTM-
Hyproc) to be reinforced, most of
whose vessels are being renovated, stated
the executive financial director of
the Sonatrach Group, Mr Ali
Rezaïguia, at the end of the tender opening
session.
The interest for Sonatrach also consists
of achieving over 50% of its gas production
capacities, capable of honouring
its international commitments, he
added.
An investment programme
of almost 25 billion dollars
Sonatrach, which has just been awarded
an exploration permit on an oil
block in Libya, further to an international
appeal for tenders, the first of its
type, is committed in an investment
programme of almost 25 billion dollars,
1.4 billion of which comes from foreign
investments, indicated Mr Rezaïguia.
The Group, which intends to position
itself on the world oil market, at the
end of the financial year 2004 by excellent
performance, i.e. turnover of
around 31.5 billion dollars.
Its exports for the same period reached
28.5 billion dollars, 3 billion of which
were accounted on behalf of the
Group's partners.