Nakilat Inks Refinancing Deal with Qatar National Bank

Nakilat, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qatar Gas Transport Company, has successfully arranged refinancing amounting to $917m with Qatar National Bank SAQ (QNB).

Nakilat established its Program Financing structure to fund the construction of a fleet of 25 LNG vessels, each of which is subject to a 25-year time charter.

These vessels serve as part of the floating pipeline carrying LNG for Qatargas and RasGas, which together produce over 77 MTA of LNG.

On the occasion of successfully completing the financing, Muhammad Ghannam, Managing Director of Nakilat, said, “This transaction once again demonstrates our outstanding capability to attract large amounts of financing expediently and efficiently. This refinancing with QNB reinforces Nakilat’s already exceptional reputation in the financial community. The strong relationship between these two Qatari companies is a natural fit with Nakilat as the world’s largest LNG shipping company and QNB as one of the strongest banks in the world.”

Latham & Watkins advised Nakilat on commercial and legal matters related to the refinancing, while Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised QNB.