Power financing up one third to $20 billion

Power was the best performing project finance sector in the first six months of 2004, up by a third compared with the same period last year, according to research by London based global banking analyst Dealogic. Power projects accounted for 39% of total volume, with 54 projects totalling $20 billion - $12 billion of these closed in the second quarter alone.

Oil and gas sector deals also performed well, with 16 deals worth $14 billion, up 96% on the same period in 2003.

And of the top 10 largest deals, eight are in the energy sector. Worthy of note, according to Dealogic analyst Petra Hofer, are the second and third spots taken by oil deals in Azerbaijan – the Baku to Ceyhan pipeline weighs in with $3.6 billion and the Unocal Azeri, Chirag, and