Gross revenue was 410.7 mill, compared to $345.4 mil, while EBITDA was $206.8 mill, compared to $127.3 mill in 1Q18.
Sergey Frank, SCF’s President and CEO, said: “Sovcomflot started 2019 with a strong Q1 performance, boosted by a return to profitability in our conventional crude and product tanker markets following an upswing in the first months of 2019. Profits from our Crude fleet, in particular, increased 53% year-on-year compared to 1Q18.
“Although spot market rates for conventional tankers have yet to reach their historic averages, they have come off the low levels witnessed in the 2017-3Q18 period and, whilst we remain cautious for 2Q19, we believe that a sustainable market recovery in the conventional tanker markets appears likely towards the end of 2019 and through 2020.
“Despite cautious optimism about conventional tankers, it is our industrial fleet working in the offshore and gas sectors where Sovcomflot specialises in delivering safety-focused operations, with high quality assets, under long-term contracts that remains central to Group strategy going forward.
“We have a number of such projects delivering in the next two years, and a pipeline of opportunities that we are looking to develop over the next five year window that will further increase Sovcomflot’s participation in these core strategic sectors,” he said.
Evgeniy Ambrosov, SCF’s Senior Executive Vice-President, said: “During the quarter, we witnessed several landmark events in the history of the development of remarkable Russian oil & gas projects, in which Sovcomflot participated directly, including the 10th anniversary of LNG shipments from the Sakhalin-2 project, using SCF’s two LNGC’s ‘Grand Aniva’ and ‘Grand Elena’ to export natural gas to Asian markets. We also saw the 10th mill tonne of crude oil loaded on SCF’s ice-breaking shuttle tankers serving the Prirazlomnoye project, operated by Gazprom Neft.
“The willingness of key customers to employ SCF vessels for extended periods of time is the best proof of SCF’s highest level of reliability as a business partner and an ocean carrier of hydrocarbons,” he said.
Igor Tonkovidov, Executive Vice-President, COO and CTO, said: “During the period, the Group took further steps to reduce its environmental footprint by increasing the use of LNG as primary fuel on two more Aframax tankers. The move represents a significant commitment by the Group to improve the environmental profile of oil transportation and is part of our ‘Green Funnel’ project developed in collaboration with Shell.
“Our track record of innovation was duly recognised by an award to our IBSV ‘Yevgeny Primakov’ with her unique specifications as ‘Offshore Support Vessel of the Year’.
Nikolay Kolesnikov, Executive Vice President and CFO, added: “With a stable balance sheet and positive cash-flow during the first quarter, supported by good earnings visibility, Sovcomflot is well positioned to continue with the implementation of its strategy and fulfilling the evolving needs of our clients. Sovcomflot’s contracted capex is fully funded, and the company maintains access to international and domestic sources of long-term capital.”