Financing closes for Train 5 expansion LNG export project

Chadbourne law firm has represented lenders on a US$4.6 billion financing, which will include expansion of Train 5 of the Sabine Pass Liquefaction LNG export project at the Sabine Pass LNG Terminal, located in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, US.

Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC is an indirect subsidiary of Cheniere Energy Partners L.P. This financial agreement has been agreed so that plans to construct up to six liquefaction trains can be executed. At present, these trains are at various different stages of the development process. Each liquefaction train is expected to have a nominal production capacity of approximately 4.5 million tpy.

As of 31 May 2015, the overall project completion percentage of Trains 1 and 2 is approximately 90.8%, and the overall project completion percentage of Trains 3 and 4 is approximately 67.7%. Since this financing has closed, Sabine Pass Liquefaction has issued a notice to proceed to Bechtel Oil, Gas & Chemicals Inc., the EPC contractor, for the construction of Train 5 of the project.

The project financing includes: US$2.85 billion of senior secured debt facilities from a syndicate of 25 commercial banks and other financial institutions, US$600 million of senior secured debt facilities from the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), US$400 million of senior secured debt facilities from a syndicate of Korean-based commercial banks supported by a guarantee from KEXIM, and US$750 million of senior secured debt facilities from a syndicate of Korean-based commercial banks, supported by an insurance policy from Korea Trade Insurance Corp. The financing closed on 30 June 2015.

Chadbourne has previously represented the lenders on the initial Sabine Pass Liquefaction Trains 1 - 2 financing that closed in 2012, and the subsequent Sabine Pass Liquefaction Trains 1 - 4 financing that closed in 2013. Chadbourne also represented the lenders on the US$11.5 billion senior secured debt financing for Cheniere Energy Partners' Corpus Christi LNG Project, which closed in May 2015.

Noam Ayali, who co-led the Chadbourne team on the transaction, commented: “It was impressive to see all parties work collaboratively to achieve financial closing for such a large financing in an expedited timeframe."

Edited from press release by Callum O'Reilly

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquefaction/03072015/financing-closes-for-train-5-expansion-lng-export-project-986/