Long-Term Sales-and-Purchase Agreements Being Key for LNG Infrastructure Financing?

摘要

The financing of infrastructures is a major topic inrecent energy policy debates. Project finance, as a specializedform of debt finance, thereby has become a well-establishedfinancing tool also in the LNG industry. In this vein, the firmhas to be understood as a comprehensive set of interrelatedcontractual arrangements. Using the data on 26 LNG exportand import projects, we argue that lenders will make theirdecision on how much to lend dependent on a project’s riskprofile. Off-take agreements serve as a security for financialcontracts. The future role of project finance in the LNG industry,however, is less clear. In the short term, the global financialcrisis has reduced lending capacity; technological risksassociating innovations might shy away lenders. In the longerterm, the changing nature of sales-and-purchase agreements inthe global LNG market may lead to doubts about their abilityto serve as a security for financial contracts.