BP signs loan agreement for Tangguh project

The Tangguh consortium led by British energy giant BP Plc has signed an agreement with several banks to provide loans for the Tangguh LNG project in West Papua.

?The financing agreement was signed yesterday (Monday). The details will be announced on Thursday,? Edi Purwanto, the Deputy Head for Financial and Economic Affairs at oil and gas upstream authority BPMIGAS, said on Tuesday.

The lenders came from Europe, China and Japan, he said without providing details.

Budiman Parhusip, BP Indonesia?s Executive Vice President in charge of Tangguh LNG Development confirmed the loan agreement had been signed.

On Sept. 12, 2007, Edi said the Tangguh consortium expected to obtain US$884 million in loan from the last loan acquisition effort.

In the first phase loan agreement signed in August last year, the consortium got $2.6 billion.

Tangguh is expected to come onstream by the end of next year and will produce 7.6 MTPA of LNG in the following year. (Godang)