Credit ratings for the bond issue by Qatar's Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company (Rasgas) have come under pressure as the Asian economic crisis raises questions about the financial strength of utilities buying the gas.

Bankers say that plans for a $500 million bond issue by Oman Liquefied Natural Gas Company appear to have been pushed onto the back burner as investors remain suspicious about emerging market paper.

Standard & Poor's, the US credit ratings agency, has said it may downgrade its BBB+ rating for the bonds, while Moody's Investors Service has already downgraded them to Baa2 from Baa1. There are two tranches of bonds, one of $400 million which matures in 2006; and one of $800 million maturing in 2014.

In the case of both agencies, questions have arisen about the creditworthiness of Korea Gas, the state-owned South Korean utility which is the sole offtaker for gas from Rasgas.

The Oman LNG bond was intended to refinance part of the bank debt taken on by the project late last year.

Bankers close to the financing say some Korean banks have sold off their portions of the Oman LNG loan in the secondary market, presumably to buttress their capital adequacy ratios at home.

However, other banks regard the investment as a good one and point out that the project, like Rasgas, is not due to start exporting until after the turn of the century - when the East Asian economies may have recovered.