Ex-Im Bank $229.8 Million Guarantee Supports U.S. Exports to Build Ammonia Plant in Suez Industrial Zone in Egypt
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) has approved a $229.8 million long-term guarantee to back the proposed sale by Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) based in Houston, Tex., and other U.S. suppliers of equipment and services to build an anhydrous ammonia plant in Sokhna Port, Egypt. The new plant will be built for Egypt Basic Industries Company (EBIC), an Egyptian exporter of ammonia.
EBIC proposes to build a greenfield 2,000-metric-tons-per-day anhydrous ammonia plant, including a pipeline corridor connecting the ammonia production plant to product storage tanks located in Sokhna Port. The ammonia plant design will be based on the KBR proprietary Advanced Ammonia Process (KAAP).
Twenty-two U.S. companies from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Colorado and Kentucky will provide goods and services on the transaction.
This project will create and sustain U.S. jobs and lay the groundwork for potential follow-on business in Egypt for U.S. exporters, while supporting Egypt's industrial and economic development goals, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman Philip Merrill.
The project company, Egypt Basic Industries Company (EBIC), is expected to be owned by the following sponsors: KBR; PSK Holdings, an Egyptian petrochemical company; Orascom Construction Industries, a major Egyptian construction firm; The Egyptian General Petroleum Corp., the state-owned oil and gas company; and several other private investors.
The transaction is Ex-Im Bank's first limited recourse project financing in Egypt. With this type of private financing, the repayment is based on project revenues.
Ex-Im Bank this year marks its 71st year of helping finance the sale of U.S. exports, primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loan guarantees, export credit insurance, and direct loans. In fiscal year 2004, Ex-Im Bank, an independent federal agency, authorized financing to support approximately $17.8 billion in U.S. exports worldwide, a 25% jump from a year earlier. For more information on Ex-Im Bank visit http://www.exim.gov.