Muscat - Following its announcement last December of the successful award of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts to deliver its landmark Liwa Plastics Industries Project (LPIC), Orpic has closed LPIC's $3.8 billion project financing facility for its $6.5 billion project. Commenting on the significance of LPIC's project financing, Orpic CEO Musab al Mahrouqi said, "Orpic's LPIC project is part of our long-term growth strategy to firmly enter into the petrochemical market. This financing facility, which is the largest ever project financing transaction to be achieved in the Sultanate of Oman, is an indication of the level of confidence and support Orpic has from key institutions and stakeholders."
LPIC financing has been supported by Export Credit Agencies representing the governments of Italy (SACE Cdp Group), the Netherlands (Atradius Dutch State Business), Korea (K-Exim and K-Sure), the United Kingdom (UKEF) and Germany (Euler Hermes), along with 19 international, regional and local commercial lenders. Mandated lead arrangers and arrangers of the LPIC project financing were: Arab Banking Corporation (BSC), Bank Dhofar, Bank Muscat, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd, BNP Paribas Fortis SA/NV, Cassa depositi e prestiti spa, Crédit Industriel et Commercial, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Export Development Canada, HSBC Bank plc, ING Bank (a branch of ING-DIBA AG), JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH, The Korea Development Bank, NATIXIS, The Saudi National Commercial Bank, Société Générale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and UniCredit SPA.
Al Mahrouqi added: "LPIC represents a robust and resilient project to lenders -- satisfying the highest international environmental and social requirements, and provides the appropriate frameworks to address each of the technical, commercial and legal challenges which customarily arise on major world-scale petrochemical projects. The company has been able to successfully secure financing amid challenging global financial and economic conditions and with limited government guarantees which reflects the trust that international financing institutions have placed on the project and the investment climate within the Sultanate." Orpic completed the financing of LPIC on a highly accelerated timetable, which was designed to coincide with the scheduled commencement of works on the project construction packages. Commissioning for the LPIC Project is scheduled to be completed in 2020.
© Oman Daily Observer 2016
