Clifford Chance advises China Development Bank on pipeline project
Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised China Development Bank as the mandated lead arranger of the financing for a new pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Central Asia to China. The 1,818km pipeline is part of the Central Asia-China pipeline and is expected to cost $11 billion.
When completed, it will deliver 30bcm of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan to China via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The financing for the Kazakh section was signed on 22 October 2008, with the financing for the Uzbek section signed on 18 November 2008.
“We are delighted to have been invited to work on this project,” said partner Geraint Hughes, Clifford Chance’s Regional Head of Energy and Infrastructure based in Hong Kong. “It is a tribute to the professionalism and commitment of the organisations and individuals involved that, despite unprecedented debt market turbulence, we have been able to finalise one of the largest project loans ever arranged in Asia in just four months. –www.theasianbanker.com (November 21 2008)–