Qatar’s state-owned petroleum company, Qatar Petroleum (QP) has raised $12.5 billion in a multi-tranche bond offering in order to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) output from its enormous North Field.
The petroleum company said in a statement that the deal is the largest “US dollar fixed-rate oil and gas offering, the largest corporate issuance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region”.
As per the company, Qatar is currently working the first expansion phase of its giant North Field East, which is expected to cost $28.75 billion and raise output to 110 million tons per annum (tpa) by the middle of this decade, up from the existing nameplate capacity of 77 million tpa.
“The proceeds from the bond offering will be used to support QP’s ambitious growth plans, particularly the North Field expansion projects over the coming few years,” QP commented.
“The RegS/144A bond offering (sales to investors outside the United States in offshore transactions) consists of 5-, 10- and 20-year conventional tranches, and a dual-listed 30-year Formosa tranche,” according to the reports.
HE Saad bin Sherida al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, and the president and chief executive of QP said, “The outcome of this offering is a strong testament to QP’s disciplined approach as an investor and formidable standing not only as the world’s largest LNG producer but also within the capital and financial markets. The NFE projects would solidify QP’s leading role in the LNG (liquefied natural gas) industry as well as in the energy transition.”
On this deal, QP has worked with a group of leading global financial institutions, including Citi and JP Morgan as global co-ordinators; Bank of America Securities, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC, JP Morgan, MUFG, and QNB Capital as active book-runners; and Credit Suisse, which acted as passive book-runner.
