12 April, 2016
International law firm Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“CA-CIB”) as Agent on the export credit agency backed US$216 million post-delivery financing to a subsidiary of BW Gas, who were advised by Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance, in relation to the state-of-the-art floating storage and regasification unit (“FSRU”) vessel, BW Singapore, which has storage capacity in excess of 170,000 cubic metres and a peak regasification capacity of 750 million standard cubic feet per day.
The FSRU is based in Ain Sokhna Port in Egypt and is currently employed by Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company and commenced operations in October 2015. Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company is a government entity with the sole mandate to issue natural gas exploration, drilling and production (upstream) as well as processing, transmission, liquefaction and distribution of natural gas in Egypt.
The WFW team was led by Madeline Leong, Head of the Shipping and Energy Finance team of WFW and Head of the WFW Hong Kong office, supported by associates Tom Van Hoof and Ryan Tan.
The Stephenson Harwood (Singapore) Alliance team was led by Gregg Johnston, Head of the Shipping and Offshore Finance team of Stephenson Harwood, Singapore, who was supported by associate, Jeffrey Tanner.
WFW partner Madeline Leong commented “This transaction is important as it underlines BW Gas’ commitment to its energy focused assets and CA-CIB’s expertise in financing such specialised assets and their commitment and support for the BW group. We value the work we have delivered to the lenders in this complex financing deal which also highlights the fast emerging LNG regasification and storage market in the Middle East and supports the much needed energy supply to sustain Egypt’s rising demand for energy. The WFW team assured effective co-ordination between CA-CIB, K-Sure, EGAS and other relevant parties involved”.
Gregg Johnston commented "This financing is another good example of the importance of ECA support in the shipping and offshore space – we were delighted to assist BW Gas and to have a further opportunity to deepen our relationship with the wider BW Group".
