Chubu Electric Secures Loan for Ichthys Project, Australia

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation signed a loan agreement totaling up to 7.5 billion yen (JBIC portion) with Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc.

The loan is cofinanced with private financial institutions. The overall cofinancing amount is 12.5 billion yen.

In this Project, INPEX CORPORATION, TOTAL S.A., Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd., Osaka Gas Co., Ltd., Chubu Electric Power and TOHO GAS Co., Ltd. will develop the Ichthys Gas and Condensate Field off the northwest coast of Western Australia; transport the produced gas and condensate through subsea gas pipelines to the onshore liquefaction plant to be built in Darwin, Northern Territory; produce liquefied natural gas (LNG; annual production capacity: 8.4 million tons), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and condensate, and sell these products through Ichthys LNG Pty Ltd in Australia in which all these companies have indirect equity stakes whose shares correspond to their interests in this project.

This loan is intended to finance Chubu Electric Power for acquiring 0.735% interest in developing the natural gas and condensate field and the liquefaction plant to develop natural gas and produce LNG and other petroleum products.

While participating in this project, Chubu Electric Power also has a long-term offtake agreement (lasting 15 years from 2017) in which it receives a supply of 490 thousand tons of LNG per year from this project. Thus this loan is expected to contribute to Japan’s energy security by supporting acquisition of interest by a Japanese company.

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LNG World News Staff, June 10, 2013; Image: Inpex