Contact Information: Contact: Matt Hyams King & Spalding Ph: (212) 827-4057
King & Spalding Advises on Significant Non-Recourse Project Financing for Gulf LNG Energy
| Source: King & Spalding
PASCAGOULA, MS--(Marketwire - February 12, 2008) - King & Spalding, a leading international law
firm, advised Gulf LNG Energy, LLC on its non-recourse project financing of
a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal known as the Gulf LNG
Clear Energy Project. Total financing for the project will exceed $800
million.
This is the first non-recourse project financing for an LNG terminal to
occur in the U.S. since early 2005. Its completion brings to a close the
last and one of the most challenging phases of the project and clears the
way for construction to begin. Gulf LNG Energy expects to break ground on
the new facility in February 2008.
"The fact that we were able to obtain non-recourse financing of this
project on behalf of our client is something we're particularly proud of,"
said Dan Rogers, a lead attorney on the project and a partner in the firm's
Houston office. "Given the current credit crunch, the willingness of
lenders to rely entirely on the revenues of the project to repay loans
speaks volumes about their belief in this project's success."
King & Spalding previously represented Gulf LNG on an engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC) agreement, on two terminal use
agreements (TUAs), and in obtaining the required regulatory permits for the
construction, ownership and operation of the Gulf LNG Clean Energy Project
that the firm says will reduce the project's operating costs.
When completed, the project will have a peak natural gas throughput of
approximately 1.5 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per day into
the southeastern United States natural gas market and an LNG storage
capacity of 320,000 cubic meters -- the equivalent of 6.6 billion standard
cubic feet of natural gas.
The lead partners representing Gulf LNG Energy on this project's financing
were Dan Rogers of the firm's Houston office and Charlotte partner Todd
Holleman. Partners Scott Greer and Ned Crady, Counsels Bill Krenz, Sandy
Cofer, Angus McFadden and Gene Ann Herrin and associates Shaw Ottis, Scott
Thomasson and Glynn Walker also advised on the matter.
King & Spalding is a leader in the international and domestic liquefied
natural gas industries and has been described by Chambers Global as
"probably the premier firm for broad-based LNG support in the USA." In the
past five years alone, the firm has handled the closing transactions for
three of the five domestic new-construction LNG terminals currently being
built in the United States and half of the expansions to existing U.S. LNG
terminals. These transactions have an aggregate value of more than $4.1
billion.
About King & Spalding
King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers in
Atlanta, Charlotte, Dubai, Frankfurt, Houston, London, New York, Riyadh
(affiliated office) and Washington, D.C. The firm represents half of the
Fortune 100 and in a Corporate Counsel survey in September 2007 was among
the top firms representing Fortune 250 companies. For additional
information, visit www.kslaw.com.