OMAN - The LNG JV.The $2.5 bn Oman LNG venture is 51% owned by the government. Its partners are: Shell (30%), TotalFinaElf (5.54%), Korea LNG LNG (liquefied natural gas): see under natural gas. Co. (5%); Mitsubishi Corp. (2.77%), Mitsui & Co. (2.77%), Partex (2%), and Itochu Corp. (0.92%). Oman LNG is limited to the downstream element. The upstream is fully owned by the government but is operated on his behalf by the main oil concessionaire in the country Petroleum Development Oman Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO) is the foremost exploration and production company in the Sultanate. It accounts for more than 90% of the country's crude-oil production and nearly all of its natural-gas supply. (PDO PDO Php Data Objects (PHP extension) PDO Protected Designation of Origin (EC) PDO Pacific Decadal Oscillation (weather) PDO Property Damage Only ). On Nov. 16, 1996, Sultan Qaboos of Oman Sayyed Qaboos bin Sa’id Al ‘Bu Sa’id GCB GCMG GCVO (Arabic: قابوس بن سعيد آل سعيد born November 18, 1940 in Salalah) is the current Sultan of Oman. inaugurated construction of the liquefaction liquefaction, change of a substance from the solid or the gaseous state to the liquid state. Since the different states of matter correspond to different amounts of energy of the molecules making up the substance, energy in the form of heat must either be supplied to plant at Qalhat. The sultan's then Oil Minister Said Bin Ahmad Al Shanfari said at the ceremony: "The LNG venture...should generate $24 billion for the sultanate over the next 25 years". The Deputy Oil Minister and Chairman of Oman LNG, Salem Bin Mohammed Shaaban, later said the project would generate a total of $29 bn, with about $12.4 bn to come from the upstream element. On Nov. 14, 1996, Oman LNG had awarded the EPC contract for the LNG plant to a consortium made up of Chiyoda Corp. of Japan and Foster Wheeler of the US. The value of the contract was $1.2 bn. The Chiyoda/Foster Wheeler partnership subcontracted work to qualified local companies. (The Chiyoda/Foster Wheeler EPC contract was won against competition from Comprimo, Fluor Daniel and a partnership of Bechtel, Snamprogetti and Technip). The front-end engineering and designs for the downstream element had been done by the MW Kellogg-JGC partnership under a contract signed on Nov. 11, 1994. In mid-November 1997, Oman LNG signed an agreement with a consortium of 41 international and local banks for a multi-tranche loan of $2 bn. This covered the downstream element, mainly construction of the two-train liquefaction plant and the terminal at Qalhat, with construction work begun in late 1996. The loan also covered installations related to the LNG venture. The loan included facilities of up to 12 and a half years, with repayment starting in 2001. Some of the facilities were guaranteed by export credit agencies from the US, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Chase Manhattan Bank The Chase Manhattan Bank, now part of JPMorgan Chase, was formed by the merger of the Chase National Bank and the Bank of the Manhattan Company in 1955. The bank is headquartered in New York City. acted as financial advisor to Oman LNG, under a contract signed in early 1995. The funding was provided despite the fact that on Nov. 5, 1997, Thailand's state company PTT (1) (Postal, Telegraph & Telephone) The governmental agency responsible for combined postal, telegraph and telephone services in many European countries. (2) See push-to-talk. PTT - Post, Telephone and Telegraph administration suspended its August 1996 MoU with Oman LNG. With the Thai economy then badly hit by a financial crisis, PTT hinted that its purchase of Omani LNG would be delayed by four years to 2007. Refinancing, however, was required as Oman LNG now could get better terms. A $1.3 bn syndication is expected to be closed by end-February 2002. Moody's Investors Service Moody's Investors Service A leading global credit rating, research and risk analysis firm. Moody's Investors Service A leading firm engaged in credit rating, risk analysis, and research of fixed-income securities and their issuers. has issued an A3 rating on the transaction. The syndication involves 12 lead arranging banks and a big number of international and regional banks. |
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