$7.2bn senior debt financing for Jizan IGCC relaunched in bank market

The operating joint venture of the $12bn Jizan integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) has relaunched the $7.2bn senior debt required in the bank market

The operating joint venture of the $12bn Jizan integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) has relaunched the $7.2bn senior debt required in the bank market.

According to sources close to the project, Air Products and Acwa Power have relaunched the senior debt financing, with the sponsors seeking to raise $5.6bn with $1.6bn equivalent $ and SR tranche already committed from Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF).

Banks have been given two weeks to renew the commitment on the consensus pricing, according to sources close to the scheme.

The senior debt financing had been launched initially in July 2020.

Air Products and Acwa Power signed an agreement with Saudi Aramco in August 2018 to form a gasification and power joint venture (JV) for the Jizan IGCC project, which will located at Jizan Economic City in the southwest area of Saudi Arabia.

The international consortium will own and operate the facility under a 25-year contract for a fixed monthly fee. Saudi Aramco will supply feedstock for the JV, and the JV will produce power and hydrogen for the oil major.

Air Products has a 46 per cent holding in the $12bn gasification project, with Acwa Power holding a 25 per cent stake. Saudi Aramco Power Company has a 20 per cent holding, with the remaining 9 per cent held by Gas Industry Company.

The JV’s produced utilities will serve Aramco’s Jizan Refinery and terminal, a megaproject which will process heavy and medium crude and add 400,000 barrels a day of refining capacity. The power plant will have a capacity of about 3,800MW.

Aramco awarded China’s Sepco an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build and commission the Jizan integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plant contract in 2014. That year, the company also awarded Saipem a $1bn contract to provide gas turbines, generators and heat steam generators for the gasification plant.

Air Products has a 46 per cent holding in the $12bn gasification project, with Acwa Power holding a 25 per cent stake. Saudi Aramco Power Company has a 20 per cent holding, with the remaining 9 per cent held by Gas Industry Company.