LONDON (Alliance News) - InfraStrata PLC on Thursday said it can achieve the required volume for its Islandmagee gas storage project from seven caverns rather than eight, reducing its capital expenditure.
Shares in energy infrastructure developer Infrastrata closed down 9.0% at 0.96 pence each on Thursday.
The underground natural gas storage project is located on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The front end engineering design programme for its Islandmagee project will henceforth include only seven caverns.
InfraStrata is currently in talks with potential equity partners in the project. These potential partners are currently conducting due diligence, which is expected to complete before the end of March. InfraStrata said the process has "taken longer than expected" to get up to speed after Christmas.
I terms of financing, InfraStrata has received indicative terms from two banks that are expected to advance as other project elements come together.
At the end of January, InfraStrata announced that is had been unable to gain EU funding for the project but intends to re-submit this month. However, the outcome of this is likely to be Brexit-dependent and so InfraStrata has not included any grant money in its economic models or discussions with possible lenders.
InfraStrata has also extended the deadline on its invitation to tender for an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor. The new deadline is March 25, the extension having been made at the request of two interested parties.
The company also noted some concern around its draft marine licence, which was issued by the Nothern Irish Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs. InfraStrata said it believes this draft licence will be converted into a full licence "at the appropriate time".
"DAERA has provided InfraStrata with clear guidance that any changes to our initial submission would result in a delay to our proposed construction timeframe, but we are pleased to confirm that we have reconfirmed to DAERA that nothing material has changed from our initial application and that we are progressing as planned," the company said.
