Infrastrata Share Discussion Threads

[clearsoup] 29/6/2010 09:27

It's good to see movement, and perhaps the simpler structure, plus more engineering de-risking, will also help EBRD to overcome the anxieties of a "difficult environment for funding major infrastructure projects". What would the West be without Texas.

[kooba] 29/6/2010 09:13

just seen seymour pierce comment..seems a waste of time


Infrastrata 3,4,5 (BUY) - Project funding update
INFA.L (42.5 p) Market cap: £31.4 m
Infrastrata has signed an MOU with the US independent gas storage specialist eCORP International covering the company's two UK storage projects and other agreements are being put in place regarding Infrastrata's other gas storage projects in Germany and Spain. At the Portland Project in Dorset, eCORP will receive a 50% stake in the project in return for funding the next £22 million of capital costs. Infrastrata will retain a 50% interest in Portland. The co-operation agreement put in place October 2009 with a group of parties has been terminated. The company anticipates starting to drill the first bore hole at Portland in the summer of next year. At the other UK project - Islandmagee in Northern Ireland - eCORP will acquire a 40% stage in return for funding an estimated £6 million to bring the project to financial investment decision. At the point of project funding,Infrastrata will receive an additional sum of up to £3.25 million. In addition, eCORP will refund all the project costs incurred by Infrastrata to date, estimated at £2.5 million. It is encouraging that Infrastrata has brought an experienced partner on board and that the UK projects are being progressed.

[adp] 29/6/2010 08:08

TIDMINFA

RNS Number : 3875O
Infrastrata PLC
29 June 2010

?




+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| For Immediate Release | 29 June 2010 |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+



PRESS RELEASE

eCORP and Infrastrata reach agreement on gas storage co-operation


The Directors of Infrastrata plc (AIM: INFA) ("Infrastrata" or "the Company")
are pleased to announce that a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") has been
signed with US independent energy company eCORP International, LLC ("eCORP")
relating to Infrastrata's gas storage projects in the UK. In addition, other
agreements are being set up relating to the Company's other gas storage projects
in continental Europe.

UK Projects

The main agreed terms of the MOU, which are subject to final due diligence and
formal agreements being agreed, are as follows:

Portland Project, England

eCORP will acquire 50% of the share capital of the project company, Portland Gas
Limited, in return for funding the next GBP22 million of project expenditure.
Following the completion of the transaction Infrastrata and eCORP will each own
50% of the project.

In advance of entering into the MOU with eCORP, the Company terminated the
Co-operation Agreement which it had signed in October 2009 with a group of
parties that had expressed an interest in acquiring a stake in the Portland
Project. Infrastrata believes that the proposed arrangements with eCORP are
beneficial to the Company as they extend to a broad range of the Company's
activities and they allow the Company to develop the Portland Project further
with eCORP before bringing it to market. Under the terms of the agreement with
eCORP, the project will be developed in phases with drilling of the first cavern
well being the initial activity. It is anticipated that drilling will commence
in the summer of 2011. Infrastrata and eCORP will jointly provide Portland Gas
Limited with technical services under an agreement in connection with the
development of the project.

Islandmagee Project, Northern Ireland

eCORP will acquire 40% of the share capital of the project company, Islandmagee
Storage Limited, in return for funding the project through to the Financial
Investment Decision ("FID") at which stage project financiers would be prepared
to commit to fund the full construction of the Islandmagee Project. Funding to
this point is expected to be up to GBP6 million and will include the drilling of
the first cavern borehole. Infrastrata's share in the project will reduce from
65% to 39% and Mutual Energy's share from 35% to 21%. At the point of full
project funding Infrastrata and Mutual will receive up to an additional GBP5
million in cash (Infrastrata up to GBP3.25 million). In addition to the funding
outlined above, eCORP will refund all of the project development costs to date,
estimated at GBP2.5 million, which have been paid for solely by Infrastrata.

Subject to securing planning permission for the project, the drilling of the
first cavern well is expected to take place during 2011. The Infrastrata team
with eCORP and Mutual Energy will jointly provide Islandmagee Storage Limited
with technical services under an agreement in connection with the development of
the project.

Continental Europe Projects

The main terms which relate to projects in continental Europe, and which are
also subject to due diligence and formal agreements being agreed, are as
follows:

Germany

It is proposed that eCORP will acquire 80% of the share capital of the project
company in return for funding the project to first gas operations, should the
project proceed to development. The transaction is subject to the agreement of
Infrastrata's local project partner. Infrastrata's share in the project will
then reduce from 80% to 16%. In addition to the funding outlined above, eCORP
will refund Infrastrata's share of back-costs of the project estimated at
GBP0.15 million. Under the terms of the proposed agreement Infrastrata will
reimburse eCORP for Infrastrata's share of the development and construction
costs within 90 days of first gas storage operations in order to retain its 16%
interest. The project company recently submitted an application for an
exploration licence over a salt dome in NW Germany. Infrastrata and its local
partner will work with eCORP to identify further energy storage projects within
an Area of Mutual Interest ("AMI") covering Germany and The Netherlands. If
other projects were to be approved by eCORP, Infrastrata would retain a 12%
interest on similar terms. Infrastrata will provide the project company with
technical services under an agreement in connection with the development of the
projects.

Spain

It is proposed that eCORP will acquire 100% of the share capital of the project
company. Under the terms of the agreement eCORP will refund Infrastrata's share
of back-costs of the project estimated at GBP0.25 million. Infrastrata will
retain an option until 90 days after the commencement of gas storage operations
to "buy-back" a 20% interest in the project in return for paying a pro-rata
share of the development and construction costs. The project company submitted
an application for an exploration licence in Andaluc�a in 2008. Infrastrata will
work with eCORP to identify further salt gas storage projects within a further
AMI covering Spain and France. If other projects were to be approved by eCORP,
Infrastrata would retain an option to "buy-back" a 15% interest on similar
terms. Infrastrata will provide eCORP with technical services under an agreement
in connection with the development of the projects.

Commenting on the news, Andrew Hindle, CEO of Infrastrata plc said:

"eCORP, based in Houston and London, has a very experienced team which has
developed and operated numerous gas storage facilities in the US. We are pleased
to be working in partnership with eCORP across all of our projects, and will
seek to develop further energy projects in the UK and Europe related to our
project core areas.

We believe that significant value will be gained for shareholders by going
forward with eCORP into the early stages of construction on the Portland
Project. eCORP's interest in pursuing the Islandmagee Project at the same time
means that the Project is now funded through the important planning and
Front-End Engineering stages.

The investment relationship with eCORP in continental Europe, which provides
clear funding to the point of first gas, allows Infrastrata to concentrate on
its core skill of originating gas storage opportunities and should lead to the
creation of further shareholder value.

Given the continuing difficult environment for funding major infrastructure
projects we are pleased that the agreement with eCORP now puts the Company on a
sound financial footing to build for the future. This far-reaching agreement
with eCORP retains significant upside for shareholders."

Commenting on becoming a partner in the projects, Dr. John F. Thrash, Chairman
and CEO of eCORP International, LLC said:

"We are most pleased to have this opportunity to combine the natural gas storage
expertise of our new partners in Europe with that of our existing team in the
development of this exciting portfolio of projects. eCORP sees this as a major
step in its plan to promote energy security in both Western and Eastern Europe."

[bionicdog] 29/6/2010 07:55

Interesting.

[kooba] 25/6/2010 08:19

mina ...not long now i hope on portland finance,info very thin on the ground but i believe good progress being made as we move into the 3rd quarter where news should be expected.not too sure how long islandmagee approval may take [though could add significant value esp against current mkt cap] but it is of secondary interest against the funding model for portland and indeed the business model of the company in general...not holding my breath otherwise i would have died ages ago but do think we are close to an inflexion point for this company.

[kooba] 25/6/2010 07:17

appears poland is more concern over security of supply than the uk.

BRUSSELS (Dow Jones)--The European Commission Wednesday cleared EUR390 million of Polish state grants for the construction or capacity increase of four underground gas storage sites in Poland.

The project allows Poland to increase security of gas supply, "without unduly distorting competition as the gas storage capacity will be made available to all competitors on the Polish market," said Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.

The project is expected to be completed in 2015, increasing Poland's storage capacities to 1.6 billion cubic meters from 1 billion cubic meters at present. This will bring the country closer to the current EU reserve capacity average of 14% of annual demand, the commission said.

-By Peppi Kiviniemi, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]

[kooba] 25/6/2010 07:15

UK exposed as gas imports soar By Rob Davies
Last updated at 10:40 PM on 24th June 2010

Britain is importing more gas than it produces for the first time since 1968, putting the country at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

Demand for gas soared by 13.2 per cent in the first three months of 2010, according to the department of energy Climate Change, due to the bitterly cold winter and moves towards greener electricity.

And while British production declined 9.2 per cent in the first quarter, imports surged by 31 per cent, outstripping indigenous production for the first time in more than forty years.


The increased need for gas from abroad is partly due to energy producers seeking ways to produce electricity through greener sources, in response to the government's target of an 80per cent cut in carbon emissions by 2050.

As a consequence, gas use for electricity generation was 18.4 per cent higher in the first three months of 2010 than in the same period of 2009. But the shift is also motivated by the fact that British gas reserves reached their peak in 2000 and have been dwindling ever since.


David Hunter, analyst at energy consultancy McKinnon & Clarke, said the increasing reliance on foreign gas should give cause for concern and that the problem is only going to get worse.
'The UK is on the end of the pipeline, so if demand is high in Europe, we're last in line,' he said.
'It's a concern, because we don't have nearly enough storage facilities,' he said, pointing to the fact that Britain has just three weeks of gas storage capability, while Germany has four months.

And he said the dependence is set to increase in the next decade-with gas predicted to account for 80 per cent of electricity production by 2020, compared with the current level of 50 per cent.

Energy secretary Chris Huhne also stressed the need for low-carbon energy production yesterday, pointing to a row between Russia and Belarus.

Russia this week cut gas supplies to Belarus, which in turn threatened to siphon off gas, rather than sending it on through the pipeline to western European nations including Britain.

Russia has since promised to restart full supplies to Belarus, but Hunter warned that a previous row between Europe's great energy power and Ukraine indicated that gas supplies from abroad were far from secure.
And he pointed out that liquefied natural gas, an increasingly common source of energy, is priced by markets, meaning that producers can sell to the highest bidder.
'If we're depending on other countries then we'll have to pay top dollar,' he said.


Read more:

[mina123golf2] 21/6/2010 09:19

Does anyone know when the planning application in Ireland is due for discussion and with a bit of good fortune - approval?? It seems a reasonable amount of time has elapsed since we were told the application had been submitted. Still no word on finance - so whats new!!!!

[holism] 25/5/2010 07:44

Well the share usually gets pumped 10% before a fund raising!!And then slips 20%.

[mina123golf2] 24/5/2010 17:05

Good God!!!!!!!!!!! An UP day at last. What is going on - we are up 3/4p - time to celebrate.

[bigman786] 19/5/2010 14:03

a good few shares traded here today - hmmmm - something brewing?

[mina123golf2] 19/5/2010 09:35

hvs Yes they do. We as shareholders are part owners of the company and have the right to know within reason what is going on. These people simply cannot hide behind "confidential agreements" etc etc. We have had a succession of posters on here telling us there is nothing to worry about and that everything is in place and the fundementals are as strong as ever etc etc and yet we have an share price of 41p down from 120P in jig time - without as much as a single word from Hindle

[hvs] 19/5/2010 09:02

They dont need to.

They is earning good money while spending it.

New labour come to mind ?

[mina123golf2] 19/5/2010 08:51

Is it not time the clowns running this company issued a statement perhaps indicating what has gone wrong and why we are losing significant money every day

[mina123golf2] 17/5/2010 17:37

I think after todays announcement of the austerity budget by Osborne that capital projects such as this will be under severe pressure. This of course will be the second time around for this share as the credit crunch caused the failure to raise finance some 18 months ago as Portland gas or was it then Egdon (the name hardly matter does it) Could of course be completely wrong but was it not EACN who once said this share was leaky - ie bad news etc had a tendency to leak out ( apologies EACN if it was another poster)

[holism] 17/5/2010 16:16

No money anywhere means everyone is £....d

[mina123golf2] 17/5/2010 16:13

Whiters Simple really - this share is dead in the water. OR to use a well known phrase - we are f-----

[whiters] 17/5/2010 15:27

Why the drop today?

[bionicdog] 10/5/2010 08:05

Keep it up hvs , mycopic isn't a word either.

[holism] 09/5/2010 09:34

mina, no not yet, but I will when the market has a shocker and it will before too long I imagine.

[johnny1982] 08/5/2010 16:48

Any reason for the move downwards?

[hvs] 08/5/2010 12:07

Its a DOG of a share.

Not bionic but mycopic.