Excelerate Energy and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, have announced they have secured debt financing for the development of Moheshkhali Floating LNG project, Bangladesh’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal.
The equity for the project had been tied up earlier with IFC coming in with a contribution of $10.8m and Excelerate’s equity amount of $43.1m.
As lead arranger for the project, IFC helped arrange the debt financing package of $125.7m for the LNG project including IFC’s loan of $32.8m from its own account and the balance from CDC Group, DEG, FMO and JICA. The funding will support the timely construction and installation of the fixed infrastructure required for the project.
The construction of the terminal will commence in the fourth quarter of 2017 and is expected to be operational by mid-2018.
The terminal will include the provision of one of Excelerate’s existing floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), the installation of a subsea buoy system anchored offshore, and the employment of port service vessels during operation. The FSRU will have 138,000 cubic meters of LNG storage capacity.
“Our partnership with IFC has been essential to the development of this project. IFC has demonstrated its commitment to bringing new energy to Bangladesh with the execution of these agreements. Excelerate takes great pride in helping bring sustainable energy solutions to countries with high energy demand, and we expect this project to have a great impact on the wider Bangladeshi economy,” said Excelerate’s chief financial officer Nick Bedford.
