Completed Mixed AidData Chinese Aid

China Eximbank provides RMB 1.79 billion buyer’s credit loan to National Iranian Tanker Company for construction of 5 very large crude carriers (Linked to Record ID#71557)

¥1.79M RMB

Funder	Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank)
Recipient Organization	National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC)
Country	Iran
Start Date	Jan 01, 2001
End Date	Jan 02, 2029
Duration	10,228 days
Number of Grantees	1
Roles	Recipient
Data Source	AidData Chinese Aid
Grant ID	`67031`

Grant Description

China Eximbank provides RMB 1.79 billion buyer’s credit loan to National Iranian Tanker Company for construction of 5 very large crude carriers In 2001, China Eximbank and the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) — a state-owned Iranian company — signed a $370 million buyer’s credit loan agreement for the construction of 5 very large crude carriers (or VLCCs).

📋 Loan / Grant Terms

💰 Loan Amountare unknown

It is known that the loan was disbursed in two separate tranches: a $110 million tranche (captured via Record ID#71557) and an RMB 1.79 billion tranche (captured via Record ID#67031).

It is also known that the borrower purchased buyer’s credit insurance from Sinosure worth approximately $500 million (covering principal and interest repayments).

The proceeds of the loan were used to finance a commercial contract that NITC signed with China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and Dalian Shipbuilding Xinchang in August 1998.

The purpose of this project was to purchase five, 300,000 ton VLCCs from China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and Dalian Shipbuilding Xinchang. The first VLCC (tanker) was delivered in April 2002 and the project was ultimately completed on June 15, 2004.

📋 Staff Comments

The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC, Persian: شرکت ملی نفتکش ایران‎) is a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, which was privatized in 2009.
The China Eximbank loan that supported this project is not included in the Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020.
According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average grace period of all official sector lending from all Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Iran was 3.6476-years in 2001. AidData estimates the grace period of the China Eximbank loan to the National Iranian Tanker Company by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ef7q4y9pxjk6q3syuqmjy/May-2024-DRS-Extraction-of-Data-on-Official-and-Private-Chinese-Loans-to-Iran-and-Borrowing-Terms.xlsx?rlkey=wiqjmhuwunp3jelz3jyfepny8&dl=0 4. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average maturity of all official sector lending from all Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Iran was 14.4598-years in 2001. AidData estimates the maturity of the China Eximbank loan to the National Iranian Tanker Company by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ef7q4y9pxjk6q3syuqmjy/May-2024-DRS-Extraction-of-Data-on-Official-and-Private-Chinese-Loans-to-Iran-and-Borrowing-Terms.xlsx?rlkey=wiqjmhuwunp3jelz3jyfepny8&dl=0 5. According to the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS), the weighted average interest rate of all official sector lending from all Chinese creditors to government and government-guaranteed borrowing institutions in Iran was 4.0949% in 2001. AidData estimates the interest rate of the China Eximbank loan to the National Iranian Tanker Company by using this figure. See https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ef7q4y9pxjk6q3syuqmjy/May-2024-DRS-Extraction-of-Data-on-Official-and-Private-Chinese-Loans-to-Iran-and-Borrowing-Terms.xlsx?rlkey=wiqjmhuwunp3jelz3jyfepny8&dl=0

📚 Sources & References

进出口银行为中国船舶出口伊朗提供信贷支持
China's Iran-Ordered Giant Oil Tanker to Be Delivered in April
China and Iran: Partners Perfectly Mismatched
Report on Ship Financing
China Finances $370M Shipbuilding Deal With Iran
National Iranian Tanker Company - Wikipedia
China's Overseas Development Finance
中国首次承接超大型油轮的建造和出口 Loan applications and disbursements are still being received and processed as the projects continue to evolve. Ongoing monitoring and evaluation are in place to ensure project continuity.