Bahrain National Gas Company (Banagas) is seeking at least $400m to finance the expansion of its gas processing facilities.

Local Gulf International Bank (GIB) is the financial advisor, and has been approaching banks to gauge appetite.

Banagas is seeking a 20:80 debt to equity ratio and a ten-year tenor. The margins are expected to be between 300 and 400 basis points.

The syndication is expected to be formally launched in mid-2016.

In January, Banagas signed a $355m engineering procurement and construction contract with Japan’s JGC Group to expand its gas processing plant.

The plant will process 350 million cubic feet a day of associated gas from the Bahrain Oil Field. It will produce liquefied petroleum gas and naphtha, utilizing re-injection pressure and excess gas.

The project is scheduled for completion in September 2018.

Prequalification began for a pipelines and storage expansion package in late 2015.

It involves a 28-kilometre-long gas pipeline between the gas processing plant and Banagas’ refrigerated gas storage facility at Sitra. The work consists of two storage tanks totalling 300,000 cubic metres and associated equipment.

Banagas’ parent company Nogaholding recently secured $570m in corporate finance.

Another Nogaholding subsidiary, Bahrain National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga), is seeking over $600m in finance for an LNG import terminal.

Qaisar Zaman, general manager of investments at Nogaholfing told MEED in November 2015 that the company would seek to increase private sector funding for its projects.