News

FMC Blending and Transfer, a Chicago-based engineering subsidiary of FMC Corporation, will provide design and engineering services and equipment for an environmentally beneficial oil refinery being constructed in Egypt, with the assistance of an Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) medium-term loan guarantee.

The innovative $50 million refinery, which is to be completed by the end of the year, will allow Egypt to recycle much of its oil by refining and blending used oil with other oil. It is being built by MISR-Canada for the Production and Blending of Lube Oils, S.A.E., a joint Egyptian and Canadian firm. FMC Blending and Transfer, a 50-person firm which was known as Mid-America Engineers until it was sold last year to FMC, was contracted by MISR-Canada to provide $5.1 million in services and equipment.

We are very glad to have Ex-Im Bank support, said Karim Soliman, vice president of FMC Blending and Transfer. Ex-im Bank financing is essential for American companies to compete for international projects in developing countries.

Ex-Im Bank is providing a five-year guarantee of a $4.5 million loan by the Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto, Canada. In 1998, Ex-Im Bank had provided a working capital guarantee to Mid-America Engineers.

Ex-Im Bank is committed to financing exports of environmentally beneficial U.S. goods and services to developing countries throughout the world, said Ex-Im Bank Chairman James A. Harmon. Sales such as this benefit people and businesses both in the United States and abroad.

Ex-Im Bank authorized about $4.8 million in financing for U.S. exports to Egypt during fiscal year 1999, and had just over $41 million in outstanding loans and guarantees to the country as of September 30, 1999.

Ex-Im Bank is an independent US government agency that helps finance the sale of U.S. exports primarily to emerging markets throughout the world, by providing loans, guarantees, and insurance. During fiscal year 1999, Ex-Im Bank supported nearly $17 billion in U.S. exports.