BONNY GAS TRANSPORT LIMITED
Base Trains
In 1990, the company raised a third party loan of $132 million through Citibank to buy four ships for the Base Projects. The ships, which were built for another company but were not put to use, were refurbished and put into interim business until the plant began operations.
Train 3:
Following the Third Train Expansion, three vessels were acquired by BGT. Their construction was partly funded with third party financing, viz: LNG Rivers & LNG Sokoto were financed with $160 million syndicated loan which was signed on December 20, 1999.
Credit-Suisse First Boston was the lead arranger for this facility for which repayment started in 2002 following the delivery of the second vessel. The third external debt in connection with BGT fleet was the loan inherited from the acquisition of two ex-Lachmar ships (LNG Edo and LNG Abuja) from NLNG on August 1, 2001 when the outstanding debt stood at US$ 210 million. The loan is serviced monthly, in accordance with the agreed repayment profile.
In September 2001, another syndicated bank loan for US$ 100 million was arranged to assist with the construction of LNG Bayelsa. Again, Credit-Suisse First Boston played the lead role. The vessel was delivered in February 2003 and the debt is being serviced.
Train 4 and 5:
Eight additional ships needed for the NLNGPlus project have been delivered. Hyundai Industries and Daewoo Shipyard built the ships. Of the eight vessels, BGT owns four while others are chartered from Bergesen dy ASA of Norway.
BGT raised US$ 460 million, in March 2003, to partly fund the construction of the vessels. This facility was arranged by ABN AMRO Bank, Credit Lyonnais, Fortis, ING Bank, HVB, Verein und Westbank and West LB. The balance of $282 million came from internally generated revenue and shareholders' funds.
BGT financed its existing third party indebtedness in 2006. A new fully amortising US$680 million facility was created at a margin of 75bps. This is secured against the 13 vessels in the fleet. The facility agent is Standard Chartered Bank.
BGT Shipping Safety Record
Each ship in the NLNG fleet is continuously monitored and benchmarked against LNG industry standards. This is done through:
Shipboard Audit Programme and Safety Management Systems.
Continuous implementation and improvement of HSE procedures.
Incident and accident reporting/analysis are done and recommendations are shared with other vessels.
The above is on going and results will continue to be monitored and evaluated.
The NLNG safety policy covers the ships.
2007 Figures
| COMPANY |
MAN HOURS |
TRCF |
LTIF |
| BGT VESSELS |
4,563,549 |
0.88 |
0.88 |
| NLNG VESSELS |
6,530,247 |
5.2 |
0.3 |
TRCF -Total number of recordable cases expressed as a frequency in relation to fleet wide exposure hours.
LTIF- Total Lost Time injuries. This includes but it is not restricted to work cases or medical treatment cases.
Shipping Performance of BGT (2007)
NLNG loaded 154 cargoes out of 262 cargoes. Traveled 1,436,638 nautical miles.
Vessel Availability in 2007 - 87.1%.
The continuous improvement of the HSE and operational performance of each ship in the fleet is of great importance to BGT and NLNG, and is subject to continual review.
