The extraordinary growth of the gas industry, and with it Doha’s transformation into a vibrant, mushrooming city whose rapid development entails a dizzying number of industrial and infrastructural mega-projects, has led Qatar to emerge in the past decade as a project finance market of global significance. That market leadership is now being put to the test by the emergence of increasing demand elsewhere – not least in other Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) markets led by neighbouring Saudi Arabia – and also by constraints in the global market following the subprime crisis.
Even Qatar’s robust project finance market has been affected by the global liquidity crunch, sources close to the country’s next major deal tell The Banker. But the situation is hardly dramatic: the 2600-megawatt Ras Laffan C power scheme has already secured commitments worth more than its $3bn debt financing requirement; the downside is that the project sponsors will have to pay a wider spread than would have been the case 12 months ago.
