JBIC To Finance $200mn Yemen LNG Company

A JBIC official said Tuesday the state-owned Japan Bank for International Cooperation has signed an agreement to provide up to $200 million project finance to Yemen LNG Company to help it develop an LNG project.

JBIC will provide the loan in collaboration with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Citibank Japan, BNP Paribas' Tokyo branch, ING Bank N.V.'s Tokyo branch and the Royal Bank of Scotland's Tokyo branch as a form of buyers' credit to pay for Yemen LNG Company's plant order, the official said.

JBIC's funds will help build Yemen's first LNG plant in Balhaf, the official added.

In September 2005, Japan's JGC along with France's Technip and US' KBR, won a contract to build the LNG plant with a capacity of 6.7 million mt/year evenly distributed between two trains, as well as two storage containers each with a capacity of 144,000 barrels.

The project will take gas from Block 18 in Marib through a 320 km pipeline linking the two facilities and is on course to begin production through Train 1 by the end of the year. First LNG delivery expected early 2009. Train 2 is scheduled to come on line in mid-2009.