WestSide Assessing Funding Options for Meridian Gas Field Expansion in Queensland

WestSide Corporation is assessing funding proposals and indicative term sheets received from several potential lenders to finance an expansion of the Meridian gas field near Moura in central Queensland, Australia.

Company’s Managing Director Mike Hughes said several Australian-based and international financiers have proposed debt facilities sufficient to fund WestSide's 51 per cent share of the expected cost of expanding the Meridian gas field to produce up to 65 Terajoules per day (TJ/d).

“The responses from a variety of prospective financiers have increased the Board’s confidence that an attractive credit facility can be secured to fully fund WestSide’s share of the field development,” Hughes said.

The company is aiming to fund an accelerated expansion of the Meridian gas field without diluting existing shareholders through additional equity capital raising.  

The Meridian joint venture has a binding 20-year Gas Sale Agreement (GSA) to supply up to 65 TJ/d to the participants of the GLNG project at Gladstone. The GSA with GLNG provides WestSide with flexibility for a staged ramp up in supply volume from 2015.

WestSide expects to receive several more debt funding proposals in coming days, in addition to those currently being assessed and plans to reach financial close on a funding facility with a preferred financier in the fourth quarter of this year.