OREANDA-NEWS. June 21, 2010. SCF Sovcomflot’s (‘SCF Group’) Executive Board today announced results for the Quarter ended 31 March 2010.

1Q 2010 Results Highlights:
1Q 2010 net profit USD 67.6 million
EBITDA USD 141.4 million
Total fleet size increased to 145 vessels, of 10.6 million tonnes DWT in total
100th shipment of Russian LNG from the Sakhalin 2 project carried by SCF Group-operated LNG carrier Grand Aniva
10 million tonnes of crude oil transported from the Varandey offshore terminal by SCF Group’s Arctic shuttle tankers since start of the project in June 2008
Delivery of Arctic shuttle tanker Mikhail Ulyanov from Admiralty Shipyards, St. Petersburg and start of long-term contract with Gazprom Dobycha Shelf (100 per cent subsidiary of Gazprom)

Commenting on the Group’s results Sergey Frank, President & CEO of OAO Sovcomflot, said:
“Sovcomflot demonstrated a strong performance, despite the tanker freight market in 1Q 2010 repeating its poor performance of 1Q 2009. We’ve managed to outperform our 1Q 2009 results with a 5 per cent growth in gross revenue, mainly because of our long-term industrial projects and specialised services such as LNG, shuttle-tanker and offshore supply operations. Thanks to our well-balanced fleet deployment and strong financial position, we have the capacity for further investment if the right business opportunities arise, fully in line with the Sovcomflot Strategy for 2010-2015 approved by the Board of Directors.”

Evgeny Ambrosov, Executive Vice President and Group COO said: “Successful implementation exclusively by Russian companies of such a technically sophisticated project as the construction of Arctic shuttle tankers like Mikhail Ulyanov, which started operating in 1Q 2010, is extremely important for the development of future oil and gas offshore projects in the Arctic and Far Eastern seas, as well as for the development of Russia’s shipbuilding industry.”

Nikolai Kolesnikov, Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy & Financial Officer said: "Sovcomflot's financial position is stable with its committed capex programme fully funded and the level of leverage being relatively modest by industry standards. While liquidity in the financial markets remains very tight, we have ongoing access to debt finance from both international and Russian banks for new projects. This is particularly important as we anticipate the number of investment opportunities to keep growing in the current market environment."