Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised BW Energy on an up to US$300m new international RBL (“reserve-based lending”) facility. The facility will be used initially to further finance and develop the Dussafu license offshore Gabon.
With an initial commitment of US$200m, the secured long-term debt facility can be expanded up to an additional US$100m and has a tenor of six years.
BW Energy is a growth-focussed oil and gas company involved in the acquisition, development and production of proven oil and natural gas fields. It holds majority interests in three hydrocarbon licences in Gabon, Brazil and Namibia and concentrates on hydrocarbon fields with significant upside potential to leverage its technical operational and basin expertise with repurposed infrastructure.
The WFW London Finance team advising BW Energy was led by Partner Joe Levin, assisted by Senior Associate Jordan Joannides, Associate Rachel Lee and Trainee Ben Charles. Regulatory Partner Nick Walker advised on environmental law matters, Capital Markets Partner Rob McBride on various hedging arrangements with tax advice provided by Partner Tom Jarvis and Associate Xiaolei Liu. French finance law advice was provided by Paris Partner Philippe Monfort and Associate Hugues Hounkpati.
Joe commented: “It has been a real pleasure to work so closely with the BW Energy team and we congratulate them on signing their inaugural RBL facility. This deal demonstrates WFW’s ability to assist our clients to achieve signing of complex upstream finance transactions including in respect of development assets”.
BW Energy Chief Financial Officer Knut Sæthre said: “Joe and his team supported us throughout the process on this first financing for BW Energy. The financing further strengthens BW Energy’s liquidity position and enables further investment to be made in Gabon and particularly in the Hibiscus/Ruche development project where first oil is expected in Q1 2023”.
WFW Singapore alliance partner Wong Tan & Molly Lim LLC advised BW Energy on matters of Singaporean law, with Loyens & Loeff acting as BW Energy’s Dutch counsel. Gabonese law firm Project Lawyers advised both BW Energy and the lenders on Gabonese law, whilst HSF advised the lenders on English and French law.
