Latham & Watkins Advises Lenders on US$8.3 Billion Refinancing of Ichthys LNG Project

Latham & Watkins represented a group of export credit agencies and a consortium of commercial bank lenders in the refinancing of approximately US$8.3 billion for the Ichthys LNG project in Australia.

Ranked among the most significant large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects in the world, the Ichthys LNG project is a joint venture between INPEX (the operator), major partner Total, CPC Corporation Taiwan, Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Kansai Electric Power, JERA, and Toho Gas.

Ichthys LNG has a production capacity of 8.9 million tonnes of LNG and 1.65 million tonnes of LPG per annum, and up to 100,000 barrels of condensate per day at peak. It is one of the few energy projects worldwide to incorporate the whole chain of development and production: subsea, offshore, pipeline, and onshore.

The Latham finance team was led by Singapore/Tokyo partner Stephen McWilliams, London partner Matthew Brown, New York partner Jonathan Rod, and Tokyo partner Hiroki Kobayashi, with Tokyo counsel Richard Chul Kim, Singapore counsel James Franklin, and associates Ashley Robson, David Shin, and Meredith Strike in Singapore, and Cameron Lyons in New York. Advice was provided on tax matters by London partner Karl Mah, and on US financial regulatory matters by New York corporate partner Alan Avery and counsel Pia Naib.