Petroleum Economist is reporting that Sharia-compliant financing structures are becoming increasingly prominent in oil and gas transactions.

According to Petroleum Economist, after a lengthy gestation period and a few false starts, Islamic financial instruments are set to play a growing role in energy finance –  in the Muslim world and beyond. Sharia-compliant instruments, traditionally confined to the retail banking market, have broken out of that niche over the past five years, migrating toward infrastructure sectors including energy.

Islamic funding in Middle Eastern project-finance deals are now commonplace. Petroleum Economist believes that the use of Islamic project financing in the energy sector took a big step forwards with the $3.45 billion Dolphin Energy project financing in September 2005. This project involved the production and processing of gas from Qatar for supply to utility customers in the UAE and Oman at the end of 2006.

For reference to the original Petroleum Economist story, please click here: http://www.petroleum-economist.com/default.asp?page=14&PubID=46&ISS=25616&SID=725889