As a senior executive with a major European export credit agency (ECA) recently observed: “Global commercial markets are very liquid – there’s a lot of money around and a lot of banks happy to take on clean project funds.” And the example he used to illustrate his point? “QatarGas II shows the amount of appetite, with some ECA funding but huge commercial demand.” When it was concluded in 2004, the QatarGas II liquefied natural gas (LNG) project financing structure broke several records, receiving commitments worth more than $5bn for its upstream component.
Analysts noted the huge appetite for mandated lead arranger (MLA) roles shown by commercial banks across the globe; more than 40 responded to a request for lead arrangers willing to lend $100m each to the project with a 15-year tenor.
