£284k land purchase for Islandmagee gas storage project

InfraStrata plc stated that its subsidiary Islandmagee Energy Limited has completed the purchase of two of five land plots that were under option with the remainder due to be concluded by mid-April.

John Wood, chief executive officer, said: “It is good to complete the first tranche of land purchases and this will facilitate enabling works to commence in 2019 on these two sites as planned. Starting the enabling works will substantially de-risk the project as these works are key for cavern formation works to begin.”

InfraStrata has also issued an Invitation to Tender package to appoint an Engineering, Procurement and Construction contractor for the project. It follows the recent completion of the Front End Engineering Design and the invitation for expressions of interest in construction of phase 1 of the facility that was issued in September.

In a statement on December 21, Mr Wood said: “We are happy to have released the ITT package before the end of 2018, to ensure that we receive offers back in the early part of next year. Selecting an EPC contractor will be an important step on our road to final investment decision (FID) by the end of H1 2019.”

Meanwhile, the company, which proposes to create eight underground caverns below Larne Lough to store 500 million cubic metres of natural gas, is considering a further equity funding offer presented during the week commencing December 17.

The CEO said: “Our goal was to have identified our preferred long-term project equity partner in Q4 2018, in order for us to commence the enabling works early in 2019. With a new offer being presented to us last week we have considered our position and it is our duty to fully evaluate this offer as it may add value for our shareholders over and above the other offers on the table; this bodes well for our future endeavours.”