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WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) today approved a loan guarantee of up to $403.5 million to support the export of U.S. equipment and services to Qatar Liquefied Gas Company 3 Ltd. (Qatargas 3) to build a natural gas liquefaction plant and related facilities in Qatar.

EXPORTERS OF U.S. GOODS AND SERVICES will benefit from a loan guarantee of up to $403.5 million to support the export of U.S. equipment and services to Qatar Liquefied Gas Company 3 Ltd. (Qatargas 3) to build a natural gas liquefaction plant and related facilities in Qatar, similar to this existing LNG plant also located there. (Photo: Qatargas)

Qatargas 3 is owned by project sponsors Qatar Petroleum, the state oil and gas company of Qatar, and ConocoPhillips Company. U.S. exporters participating in the project include Air Products and Chemicals, Allentown, Penn., General Electric Co. Inc., Fairfield, Conn., and ConocoPhillips Company, Houston, Tex.

This transaction will create and sustain a large number of U.S. jobs throughout the country, while furthering Ex-Im Bank's long and successful relationship with Qatar to develop its energy infrastructure, and helping to meet U.S. energy needs, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President (Acting) James H. Lambright. Ex-Im Bank has supported previous Qatar LNG projects including Ras Laffan, and Qatargas II.

The Qatargas 3 project involves the production of natural gas offshore from Qatar's North Field and transport of the gas by sub-sea pipeline onshore to Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, where it will be processed into 7.8 million metric tons per year of LNG for export to the United States.

The transaction is structured as a limited recourse project financing, a type of private financing where repayment is based on project revenues. BNP Paribas, Paris, is the guaranteed lender. Ex-Im Bank support covers a portion of the project, which overall is expected to cost approximately $5 billion.

Ex-Im Bank, the official export credit agency of the United States, is in 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 2005, Ex-Im Bank authorized $14 billion in transactions supporting almost $17.9 billion of U.S. exports to markets worldwide. For more information on Ex-Im Bank visit http://www.exim.gov.