ATTARAT POWER PLANT PROJECT

Ali Sharif Zu'bi Advocates & Legal Consultants advised Attarat Power Company (APCO) and the project sponsors, Eesti Energia AS (EE) and YTL Power International Berhad (YTL), on Jordanian law in connection with the construction and project financing of a 554MW gross oil shale fired mine mouth power station and open cast oil shale mine in Attarat Um Ghudran, Jordan. Power will be delivered to Jordanian state-owned National Electric Power Corporation (NEPCO), the single offtaker, under a 30-year power purchase agreement.

The financing of the Project will be provided on the basis of export credit insurance provided by China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure). This is the largest private project financing supported by Sinosure to date. Financial close of the USD1,582 million 15-year debt facility, which comprises the entire senior debt requirement for the Project, was achieved on 16 March 2017. The shareholders have committed to provide base shareholder funding of USD 528 million.

This project is the first to commercially utilise Jordan's oil shale reserves, and will significantly reduce Jordan's reliance on imported oil and gas. With an investment value of USD2.1 billion, the project is the largest foreign direct investment in Jordan to date. The two-unit power station will be the first oil shale fired power station and mine project in the world funded by limited recourse project financing.

Ali Sharif Zu'bi Advocates & Legal Consultants acted in relation to matters of Jordanian law alongside Slaughter and May who were the international counsel on the transaction and NautaDutih who advised on Dutch law matters.

Contacts

Jumana Toukan (partner), Sharif Zu'bi (senior partner), Khaled Asfour (managing partner) and Dima Alkhuffash (associate).