Osaka Gas has entered into an agreement with the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) for the arrangement of project finance for the sum of US$302 million (*1).  The loans from the banks will be used for the company’s investment in the Gorgon LNG project in Australia.

Osaka Gas owns 1.25% equity interest in the Gorgon LNG project (*2).  The project is currently under development to produce a total of 15 million tons of LNG per annum on Barrow Island where natural gas produced from the Gorgon and Jansz gas fields will be liquefied.  As a shareholder in the project, Osaka Gas will receive LNG for the proportion of its equity holding (187.5 thousand tons a year) in the project, in addition to its contractual LNG off-take of 1.375 million tons a year.

Notes:

(*1) Project finance is the long-term financing of industrial and infrastructure projects based on cash flows from the project.  The loans from the project are secured by the project assets and only paid from project cash flow.  It is the first project finance for Osaka Gas as a minority shareholder in an LNG project.
(*2)
・Shareholding of Gorgon LNG project
	Chevron (operator): 47.333% ExxonMobil: 25% Shell: 25% Osaka Gas (1.25%) Tokyo Gas (1%) Chubu Electric Power (0.417%)
・LNG Production expected to commence in 2014.