Latin Lawyer Names Los Ramones Pipeline Financing as 2014 Project Finance Deal of the Year

Latin Lawyer has selected a Curtis-counseled transaction as one of its 2014 deals of the year. The financing for the Southern portion of the Los Ramones gas pipeline project was honored as Latin Lawyer's 2014 Project Finance Deal of the Year.

Curtis served as counsel to global energy giant French Utility GDF Suez, which is currently constructing the Southern leg of the pipeline in a joint venture with affiliates of Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), First Reserve and the Blackstone Group.

This portion of the pipeline is approximately 291 kilometers long and the total cost is expected to exceed US$1 billion. Financing for the project is being provided by a consortium of Mexican development banks — Banobras and Nafin — and commercial banks —BBVA, Mizuho, SMBC, Natixis and CACIB.

Partner Robert George and associate Edmundo de la Fuente advised GDF Suez on the project.

The Los Ramones gas pipeline, Mexico's largest hydrocarbon transportation project of the past 40 years, is expected to produce a 45 percent increase in gas imports. It is designed to help satisfy the growing demand for gas by boosting cheap imports from the United States.

Latin Lawyer announced the winners of its Deal of the Year Awards at its annual charity dinner, in São Paulo attended by more than 240 leading names of the Latin American legal community.