According to America World City  Inc, the Finnish government has agreed to provide financial backing for Royal Caribbean to build a third Oasis class ship at STX's Turku shipyard for around one billion euros.

"The Government of Finland has agreed to fund a third of Royal Caribbean cruise ship in order," said the America World City in a statement.

Finnvera, the Finnish state-owned specialized credit institution, did not comment in any way on Friday because the law prohibits them to discuss financial target confidentiality.

Turun Sanomat reported on Friday that the government's deliberations with Royal Caribbean for the cruise ship order financing will probably be postponed next week. Economic Policy of the Cabinet meeting schedules and agendas are secret.

Basically, Finnvera gives the buyer money for burrowing & guarantees the loan repayment period.  The Finnish government granted 3.0 billion euros in September in funding to Finnvera. This allows a new form of export credit financing, for the benefit of Finnish export companies to compete.

We reported on Wednesday that a newspaper in Finland claims Royal Caribbean was getting ready to order a third Oasis-class cruise ship from STX Finland's Turku Shipyard.

Royal Caribbean spokeswoman Cynthia Martinez responded to the report by saying, "It's a rumor.  We don't comment on rumors."

Martinez also added to a request by USA Today, "As we have done in the past, if/when we have something to announce, we will do so through an official company press release."

The rumored ship order stipulates that Royal Caribbean is looking for financial assistance from the Finnish government to help pay for the ship order.

If the rumor proves to be true, the third ship would be sister to Oasis and Allure of the Seas.  It would also be the third ship Royal Caribbean currently has on order, with two other smaller ships known as "Project Sunshine" under construction in Germany.

Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat is reporting that STX Finland's Turku Shipyard is possibly close to receiving a contract from Royal Caribbean to build a third Oasis-class ship.  This would be the sister ship to Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.

The possible 1 billion Euro order hinges on if the Finnish government is willing to offer export credit construction financing. The newspaper reports the matter will be discussed at a meeting on Thursday of the Finnish Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy.

Royal Caribbean already has two other smaller ships on order, known as Sunshine Class, from a shipyard in Germany.

During the Royal Caribbean second quarter 2012 financial results conference call, Royal Caribbean chairman hinted at the possibility that Royal Caribbean could order a new ship for either Royal Caribbean or its sister company, Celebrity Cruises.

Royal Caribbean Chairman Richard Fain spoke about the possibility, "We clearly are looking at that sort of thing. "I think what we're looking at is, we see that even in this market, we could get some very attractive returns from some of our vessels that have performed well."

"From 2012 through 2016, our berth capacity growth is less than 3%, and in fact, we don't have any ship deliveries in 2013 at all," he said. "But as we said before, we also can't stagnate. Given the long lead time for a new vessel, we're approaching the point where a new order could not be delivered until the middle to late 2016, by which time, we will be enjoying much better profitability and much improved credit metrics."