State-owned Qatar Petroleum is reportedly planning a big sale of dollar-denominated bonds in order to fund its giant LNG expansion project.
The LNG behemoth sent banks a request for proposals for the planned debt sale in the last few weeks, according to a report by Reuters on Sunday citing two unidentified sources.
The agency said this would be QP’s first ever US dollar-denominated public international bond sale.
Later the same day, Bloomberg said in a report that QP aims to sell between $7 billion and $10 billion of five, 10- and 30-year notes.
QP could issue the bonds this quarter while the proceeds would go toward the North Field expansion project, the report said citing one unidentified source.
The move comes more than two months after QP announced a final investment decision on its $28.75 billion North Field East project.
Under the North Field East project, QP will build four “mega trains” with a capacity of 8 million tonnes per year in the Ras Laffan complex.
This first phase of the expansion project will increase Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 to 110 mtpa.
QP also plans a second phase to further boost capacity to total 126 mtpa by 2027 as well as additional expansions.
The company’s unit Qatargas already operates in total fourteen LNG trains at Ras Laffan.
In addition, QP recently said it plans to become the sole owner of the Qatargas 1 joint venture which operates the first three LNG trains at Ras Laffan.
The firm said it would not renew the QG1 JV agreements with Total, ExxonMobil, Marubeni and Mitsui.
The first three trains each have a capacity of 3.3 million tonnes per year. QP’s unit Qatargas will continue to operate QG1 facilities solo as of January 1, 2022.