Wednesday, Dec 05, 2007
Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: Pakistan-based Descon Engineering has arranged a $124 million project financing facility with a consortium of UAE banks to carry out an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from Fertil.
The project includes a urea debottlenecking project in Ruwais and construction of two new units - a carbon dioxide recovery unit and a urea granulation unit, the lead arranger said yesterday.
A First Gulf Bank senior executive told Gulf News that the bank would provide 50 per cent of the project financing, and the National Bank of Dubai and National Bank of Fujairah would contribute 25 per cent each.
Fertil - a joint venture company of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and France's Total - awarded the $175.60 million contract to Descon last July 21 .
"The banks are together financing 70.8 per cent of the project size. The project finance deal will run over a period of three years and this is applicable to all the lenders to the project," said the First Gulf Bank executive.
Capacity
A Descon executive said that the capacity of the Ruwais urea project, located 260 kilometres west of Abu Dhabi, would increase to 2,300 tonnes per day by July 21, 2009, when the debottlenecking is completed, up from 1,900 tonnes per day at present.
Under the contract, the entire Ruwais project, including the two new units, is to come on stream within 24 months after the awarding of the contract, the official added.
The banks are together financing 70.8 per cent of the project size. The project finance deal will run over a period of three years and this is applicable to all the lenders to the project."
By Himendra Mohan Kumar
Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.
