Bank of China contributes $212 million AUD to a $1.54 billion AUD syndicated loan to Origin Energy for capital expenditure requirements, including coal-seam gas developments and the Darling Downs Power Station Project

Project narrative

Between March 14 and 20, 2008, financial close was reached on a deal in which a syndicate of 17 banks — including the Bank of China (BOC) — entered into a $1.54 billion AUD syndicated multi-tranche dual-currency facility agreement with Origin Energy Limited — an Australian energy company — for capital expenditure requirements. This loan was divided into three tranches: a $700 million AUD revolver tranche with a maturity period of three years, a $200 million AUD credit tranche with a maturity period of three years, and a $200 million USD bullet tranche with a maturity period of three years. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower for its capital expenditure requirements, including its ongoing coal-seam gas developments and the Darling Downs Power Station Project. BOC contributed $212 million AUD to the loan syndicate. In addition to BOC, the following lenders contributed the respective amounts to the loan syndicate: Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) ($98 million AUD), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) ($98 million AUD), Deutsche Bank ($98 million AUD), JPMorgan ($98 million AUD), National Australia Bank Limited ($98 million AUD), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) ($98 million AUD), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) ($95 million AUD), Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank) ($95 million AUD), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Limited (BTMU) ($95 million AUD), DnB Nor Bank ($95 million AUD), Fortis Bank ($95 million AUD), Dexia Crédit Local S.A. ($70 million AUD), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC Bank) ($55 million AUD), Citibank ($50 million AUD), Société Générale S.A. (SocGen) ($50 million AUD), and Bank of America ($30 million AUD). ANZ, CBA, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, and NAB served as underwriters. BOC, RBS, BBVA, Scotiabank, BTMU, DnB, and Fortis served as co-arrangers. Dexia Crédit Local served as lead manager. OCBC Bank, Citibank, and SocGen served as senior managers. The loan was oversubscribed from its initial $1.1 billion AUD target. The $1 billion USD Darling Downs Power Station Project sought to construct a 630 MW (three 120 MW Frame 9E gas turbines and a 270 MW steam turbine) gas-fired combined cycle power plant in the Darling Downs region of southwest Queensland. The plant included a water treatment plant with two 100% train systems consisting of cartridge filtration, reverse osmosis, membrane degasification, and electrodeionisation, a $500 million USD 205-kilometer long domestic natural gas pipeline connecting coal seam gas (CSG) reserves in the Roma and Chinchilla regions of southwest Queensland to the plant, and transmission connection to the Braemar substation from which it is stepped-up and supplied to the national grid. Designed to be a clean baseload station, the plant would eliminate emissions of about 2.5 million tons of greenhouse gases annually and power 400,000 Queensland homes. CH2M Hill was the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor responsible for project implementation. GE was contracted to supply the turbines and boilers. CH2M Hill awarded a contract to Laing O'Rourke for construction and other site activities. Plant and equipment foundation structures were delivered by Multifix Construction. OSD Pipelines was responsible for gas pipeline project management services. Nacap Australia won the contract to construct the pipeline in October 2008. AVANTech was responsible for the supply of the water treatment system. CH2M Hill subcontracted the fabrication of the pipeline to CDK Engineering. D & R Stainless was also involved in fabrication and pipe spooling works. Uni-Span was responsible for the supply of scaffolding components. Queensland Industrial Cladding conducted acoustic cladding for the power station. Pilbara Fireproofing (PFP) Systems was responsible for epoxy grout application on the transformer bases. Colin Mongta Inspection Services (CMIS) was responsible for the design verification and inspection of the turbines and auxiliary vessels. Energen was responsible for plant commissioning services. Infotechnics developed the operational logging and reporting system with its Opralog software. Force Access provided the fleet services for transporting the equipment to the project site, with the fleet maintained and supported by Platform Solutions. Ecofund Queensland provided environmental services. Agility Project Logistics assisted in the transportation of equipment and components. FlexiHire was responsible for the hiring of equipment. Construction began in August 2007. The first turbine came online in December 2009. The power station entered into full operations in July 2010.