Moody's Investors Service, has today affirmed the Aa3 senior secured bond ratings of Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas (II) (RasGas II) and Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (3) (RasGas 3).

The outlook remains stable. The baseline credit assessment (BCA), which lies in the baa1-baa3 range, was also affirmed.

“The affirmation reflects, inter alia, our continued expectation of high support from the Government of Qatar,” said Moody's Investors Service, a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Corporation.

“We consider the RasGas II-3 entities as government-related issuers (GRIs). The Aa3 rating for the senior secured bond ratings incorporates our assumption that in the unlikely event that RasGas II-3 were to become distressed, there would be a high likelihood of extraordinary support from the Government of Qatar to avoid RasGas II-3 defaulting on its debt obligations. Our assumption of high support leads to a significant uplift from the standalone credit strength of the Project.”

A measure of this standalone credit strength, our BCA for RasGas II-3 lies within a range of baa1-baa3 and reflects (1) the Project's compelling commercial and industrial rationale, and the strong competitive position that it enjoys as a world class, low-cost producer of LNG and valuable by-products; (2) its very strong financial metrics, even in the current low oil price environment; and (3) its generally beneficial project finance structural features, subject to the absence of certain security interests and subject to limitations on the likely effectiveness of certain creditor projections.

“However, our BCA for RasGas II-3 is constrained by (1) event risk considerations, including asset-concentration risk and geopolitical risk; and (2) the Project's exposure to commodity price risk, although such risks are substantially mitigated by its strong financial metrics,” Moody’s said. – TradeArabia News Service