7 Feb 2019 07:00
Prior to publication, the information contained within this announcement was deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR"). With the publication of this announcement, this information is now considered to be in the public domain.
7 February 2019
InfraStrata plc
("InfraStrata" or the "Company")
Islandmagee Gas Storage Project - Issue of Invitation to Tender Owner's Engineer
InfraStrata plc (AIM: INFA), the UK quoted company focused on the development of natural gas storage capacity, is pleased to announce that it has issued an Invitation to Tender ("ITT") package for its Islandmagee gas storage project (the "Project") in order to appoint an Owner's Engineer contractor to oversee the construction of the Project. The Owner's Engineer is a role undertaken to protect the owner's interests by ensuing that the EPC contractors are adhering sufficiently to the project specification, contract and timeline. In this case it will also avoid delay and cost involved in setting up a directly employed owner's engineering team.
The issuing of the ITT follows on from the recent completion of the FEED (Front End Engineering Design) and the issue of the ITT for the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contractor as announced on 18 December 2018. We have released the Owner's Engineer ITT document to the following organisations:
· WSP
· ATKINS
· MOTT MCDONALD
· WORLEY PARSONS
· FLUOR
· COSTAIN
· JACOBS
The ITT includes a package to oversee all surface, subsurface and integration works required to develop the Project. The Project works have been split into phase 1 (two caverns) and phase 2 (six caverns) for a total of 8 caverns and therefore, it is expected that the contract will be awarded in two staged phases in line with the planned construction phases. There is no guarantee that by running this ITT process InfraStrata will find an Owner's Engineer ("OE") contractor with which it is able to reach mutually agreeable terms.
The date for receiving ITT returns from potential OE contractors has been set as 15 March 2019, providing five clear weeks to formulate responses. InfraStrata has received requests for an extension to the return period for the EPC ITT that it is currently running from more than one of the potential contractors, and it has therefore agreed to move that return date to 15 March 2019.
John Wood, Chief Executive Officer commented: "We are happy to have released the ITT package for the Owner's Engineer early this year as planned, ensuring a good high quality Owner's Engineer is appointed who is aligned to the Project, which is essential to ensure we bring the Project in on time and within budget. Selecting an Owner's Engineer contractor will be an important step on our road to final investment decision (FID) by the end of H1 2019."
Further updates will be provided in due course.
For further information, please contact:
InfraStrata plc John Wood, Chief Executive
| c/o Yellow Jersey +44 (0)20 3735 8825 |
Allenby Capital Limited (AIM Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker) Jeremy Porter / Liz Kirchner
| +44 (0)20 3328 5656 |
SI Capital Limited (Joint Broker) Nick Emerson
| +44 (0) 20 3871 4038 |
Yellow Jersey Tim Thompson | +44 (0)20 3735 8825 |
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
InfraStrata is an independent gas storage company focused on the UK and Ireland. Further information is available on the Company's website: www.infrastrataplc.com
Background on the Islandmagee Storage Project
The Islandmagee gas storage project is a proposed salt cavern gas storage facility located on Islandmagee in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Board of InfraStrata believes that the proposed 500 million cubic metres natural gas cavern storage facility will provide over 25% of the UK's natural gas storage once constructed. The facility will be situated adjacent to the Scotland Northern Ireland (gas) Pipeline (SNIP) and the Moyle 500 megawatt electricity interconnector. Work commenced in 2007 with the acquisition of 3D seismic data to image the Permian salt in the Larne Lough area. During 2012, planning permission was granted for the project and a gas storage licence was issued by the Utility Regulator. In 2015 a well was drilled to core the salt and confirm the technical feasibility of the project, supported in part by the European Commission. The Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) element of the Project was completed in November 2018 and the FEED report was submitted to the European Union in December 2018 in accordance with the Company's grant conditions. To date approximately £13.5m has been invested in the project.
Further information is available on the company's website:www.infrastrataplc.com
The Front End Engineering & Design (FEED) and Insitu Downhole Testing programme for the Islandmagee gas storage project is co-financed by the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility.
Disclaimer releasing the European Union from any liability in terms of the content of the dissemination materials:
"The sole responsibility of this publication lies with the author. The European Union is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein."