The Mozambique LNG project will now include work offshore, so EXIM, the US’ Export-Import Bank has tweaked the loan it is providing accordingly. It has been reported that the scale of the facility was also reduced, from $5 billion to $4.7bn.
The new side of the loan will include suppliers from two more states, Louisiana and Oklahoma. Follow-on sales are expected to provide more jobs across the US, EXIM said and added that the debt will help support 16,700 jobs in the US over five years.
It will also nearly double the number of US suppliers involved, to 68, up by 31, it said. The bank had first approved a loan for the Mozambique project in September 2019. Of the debt amount, an estimated $1.8bn will go to offshore works on the East African development.
EXIM President and Chairman Kimberly Reed said: “EXIM’s financing for the Mozambique LNG project continues to strongly support President Trump’s Prosper Africa Initiative to unlock opportunities for US businesses in Africa.”
She went on to say that private financing had not been available for Mozambique LNG because of its “size, complexity and risk”.
There also seems to have been a degree of geopolitical completion, with Reed saying that China and Russia had been “slated to finance this deal before our EXIM board quorum was restored by the US Senate one year ago.”
The statement directly referenced the desire to advance the US’ place in the world with respect to China. The Prosper Africa plan was launched in December 2018 with the aim of stimulating trade between the US and China.
For more information visit www.exim.gov
