The anatomy and importance of project finance for oil and gas developments

This paper reports that project financing can be of great benefit to oil and gas projects because by separately identifying and securing assets and cashflows it can provide large sums not otherwise accessible to whole projects or to individual companies. Project financing is of interest to members of the SPE because it routinely requires the expertise of petroleum engineers and other professionals to vouch for the viability of petroleum projects and the recoverability of reserves. its essential attraction is that risk analysis and the application of precise professional criteria enable large projects and amounts to be financed, which otherwise might not occur. This is particularly the case when there are a number of participants in a large project, none of which is on its own able to support the finance. The growth in the average size of projects means that an increasing number of projects must be financed in this way or not be able to go forward