Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP) shares jumped in mid-afternoon trading Thursday after its consortium, which also includes Beijing Jingneng Power Company Limited (BJPC) and PowerChina International Group Limited, agreed pre-development funding for the Thar coal mine and power plant project in Pakistan.
The energy developer said the consortium had agreed to provide a minimum of US$2.5mln in funding in proportion to their intended stake in the project.
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Proportionally, Oracle will provide US$0.3mln of the funding, while BJPC and PowerChina will provide US$1.95mln and US$0.25mln respectively.
The firm said it believed the funding would be sufficient to meet project costs up to the financial close, although it also anticipated that more funding could be acquired on the same basis.
Naheed Memon, chief executive of Oracle, said once finalised, this would be the first time the company’s partners would deploy their own capital into the project, adding that the development should give shareholders “significant optimism with regards the likelihood and timing of reaching financial close”.
Shares were up 10.5% at 0.53p.