Oman's Sohar Power Company (SPC) said on Tuesday it had signed a 15-year syndicated loan agreement worth $549 million from local and foreign banks for a power plant being built by Tractebel. A statement named a consortium of Bank Dhofar, National Bank of Oman, Oman International Bank, Bank Muscat, Oman Arab Bank, BNP Paribas, HSBC Middle East, KBC Finance Ireland and Japan's Mizuho Corporate Bank as the financiers. SPC, which is under construction and owned by Tractebel and local partners, will start supplying electricity to the Sohar industrial area from April 2006. Tractebel, a Belgian unit of French utilities group Suez, was chosen in June to design, build, own and operate the greenfield 'Sohar Independent Water and Power' project. The 585-megawatt plant will fuel Oman's biggest projects including the Sohar Refinery, an aluminum smelter, polypropylene and fertilizer plants. Meanwhile, Oman's Alliance Housing Bank said it had signed a three-year $40 million syndicated loan from local, regional and international banks. A statement received by Reuters said the loan carried an interest rate of 70 basis points over London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR).
