Sovcomflot Group and Sberbank CIB have signed a 14-year $340 million credit facility agreement to finance the construction of three Arctic shuttle tankers for the Novy Port project. Novy Port is one of the largest oil and gas condensate deposits on the Yamal peninsula in Russia.

The vessels will serve as part of project infrastructure designed to enable year-round shipment of crude oil from an offshore loading terminal in the Gulf of Ob. The commercial production from the field will start in 2016. The transaction involves Sberbank Europe AG, a subsidiary bank of PJSC Sberbank.

Commenting on the transaction, Nikolay Kolesnikov, CFO of Sovcomflot, said, “We welcome Sberbank’s participation as a lender in this new project of Sovcomflot and we hope for further development of our strategic partnership with Russia’s leading bank. This is the first example of the bank’s long-term financing of a project implemented by Sovcomflot Group.

The signing of the credit facility agreement creates an important precedent for further development of shipping industry financing by Russian banks. With this new financing Sovcomflot will have raised a total of over $900 million of long-term debt financing from commercial banks and export credit agencies in the course of 2015.”

“Sovcomflot is the leader in the operation of high ice class heavy-tonnage vessels in the Arctic and has many years of experience in raising asset-backed financing in the international market,” said Dmitry Kazvini, head of Transport and Infrastructure Department at Sberbank CIB.

“Lending to Sovcomflot confirms our commitment to participating in initiatives that are strategically important for the national economy, and we are happy to be able to support the creation of a fleet of Arctic tankers.”