PGS gets $305M loan to pay for two new seismic vessels

Petroleum Geo-Services ASA has established Export Credit Financing for the two (third and fourth of a series of four) Ramform Titan-class vessels scheduled for 2015 delivery.

PGS has through a wholly owned subsidiary signed two loan agreements for together $305 million to finance the two new builds. The lenders are Japan Bank for International Cooperation (“JBIC”) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”) with Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (“NEXI”) insuring the SMBC portions of the loans.

The loans will have a tenor of 12 years from delivery of the vessels with semi-annual equal installments. Lenders will have first priority mortgage in the two vessels. Half the loan will bear fixed interest rate while the other half will have a revolving 6 months floating interest plus a margin.

The vessels ordered are the “Ramform Titan-class,” the newest generation in the Ramform series featuring today’s most advanced 3D seismic data acquisition/analysis capability. The 104 meter (m) long vessel has a very wide breadth of 70m. For quiet operation, the vessel adopts diesel electric for the main propulsion system. The vessel is capable for receiving supply at sea to enable a long-term exploration over an expansive area.

The Ramform vessel tows multiple streamer cables from the vessel’s stern. The cables contain sensors which detect echoes of sound waves emitted from sound sources and bounced back from the sea bottom and stratum boundaries. The detected echoes are used for 3D seismic analysis.

 Related: PGS Orders Two Ramform Titans from Mitsubishi (Japan)