Offtake signed for KFH complex

29 October 2004
Kuwait Finance House (KFH)has signed offtake agreements for the entire output from the petrochemical portion of its planned integrated chemical, power and desalination plant and is preparing clarifications of project for the government in order to acquire an industrial licence. Negotiations are due to begin in mid-December with Qatar and Iran on a gas supply agreement.

Japan's Mitsubishi Corporationis understood to have agreed to purchase the 315,000 tonnes a year (t/y) of ethylene dichloride and 167,000 t/y of caustic soda capacity proposed at the facility while Bahrain Natural Gas Company (Banagas)will offtake the 167,000 t/y of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). The duration of the contracts is unclear.

The cabinet met in mid-October to consider the scheme, which would be capable of supplying about 800 MW of power and some 25.5 million gallons a day (g/d) of water to the government grid, over and above internal needs. Discussions are under way over the terms of potential electricity and water supply agreements with Manama, while the additional information requested from the project sponsors focuses on the suitability of KFH's favoured site at Sitra - to take advantage of existing port facilities - in light of loading capacity and expected shipment volumes. The plant requires about 500,000 square metres of land.

Norton Rose is the legal adviser on the estimated $1,300 million project. KFH will take a 10 per cent equity stake and the $900 million debt financing is likely to take the form of a sukuk (MEED 24:9:04).

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